The Ice Cream Lady
by gamer4
Summary: A dark secret lurks beneath the streets of Vale, and the only ones who can uncover the truth are a group of seven with close ties to the bizarre murders going on in their hometown. AU, rooted in Stephen King's It.
1. Table of Contents

The Ice Cream Lady

TABLE OF CONTENTS

(Chapter Titles and Order Subject to Change)

Act I- The Shadow Over Vale

Chapter I- Ruby Rose Sails a Boat (Child)

Chapter II- Roman Torchwick Takes a Fall (Adult)

Chapter III- Pyrrha Nikos Gets a Drink (Adult)

Chapter IV- Nora Valkyrie Orders Some Pancakes (Adult)

Chapter V- Weiss Schnee Takes Her Medicine (Adult)

Chapter VI- Jaune Arc Learns a Lesson (Adult)

Chapter VII- Yang Xiao Long Takes a Vacation (Adult)

Chapter VIII- Blake Belladonna Takes a Bath (Adult)

Chapter IX- Lie Ren Reads a Journal (Adult)

Act II- First Contact

Chapter X- Pyrrha Nikos Meets an Angel (Child)

Chapter XI- Pyrrha Nikos Lends a Hand (Child)

Chapter XII- Yang Xiao Long Beats the Devil (Part 1) (Child)

Chapter XIII- Coco Adele Seeks the Truth (Child)

Chapter XIV- Lie Ren Finds a Clue (Child)

Chapter XV- Weiss Schnee Tells a Story (Child)

Chapter XVI- Nora Valkyrie Becomes a Wingman (Child)

Chapter XVII- Yang Xiao Long Investigates a House (Child)

Chapter XVIII- Jaune Arc Cuts His Hair (Child)

Chapter XIX- Blake Belladonna Visits a Circus (Child)

Act III- Twenty-Seven Years Later

Chapter XX- James Ironwood Seeks Assistance (Adult)

Chapter XXI- Yang Xiao Long Visits a Grave (Adult)

Chapter XXII- Team Loser Celebrates a Reunion (Adult)

Chapter XXIII- Weiss Schnee Remembers a Friend (Adult)

Chapter XXIV- Pyrrha Nikos Borrows a Book (Adult)

Chapter XXV- Jaune Arc Returns Home (Adult)

Chapter XXVI- Nora Valkyrie Meets a Friend (Adult)

Chapter XXVII- Yang Xiao Long Follows a Ghost (Adult)

Chapter XXVIII- Three Guests Arrive in Vale (Adult)

Act IV- The Persistence of Memory

Chapter XXIX- Peter Port Recalls a Battle (Child)

Chapter XXX- Team Loser Wages a Rock War (Child)

Chapter XXXI- Lie Ren Makes Some Pancakes (Child)

Chapter XXXII- Blake Belladonna Attacks a Book (Child)

Chapter XXXIII- Nora Valkyrie Witnesses a Fall (Child)

Chapter XXXIV- Weiss Schnee Takes a Break (Child)

Chapter XXXV- Jaune Arc Pays His Respects (Child)

Chapter XXXVI- Pyrrha Nikos Protects a Friend (Child)

Act V- Fire Walk With Me

Chapter XXXVII- Jaune Arc Leaves Home

Chapter XXXVIII- Lie Ren Makes a Call (Adult)

Chapter XXXIX- Yang Xiao Long Lends an Ear

Chapter XL- Cardin Winchester Opens a Present

Chapter XLI- Team Loser Makes Their Descent

Chapter XLII- The Pieces Gather (Adult)

Chapter XLIII- Blake Belladonna Falls Behind (Child)

Chapter XLIV- Yang Xiao Long Accepts the Truth (Adult)

Chapter XLV- The Guardian Sets the Board (Child)

Chapter XLVI- Team Loser Performs a Ritual (Part I) (Child)

Chapter XLVII- Team Loser Performs a Ritual (Part II) (Adult)

Chapter XLVIII- Team Loser Makes a Promise (Child)

Chapter XLIX- Yang Xiao Long Beats the Devil (Part II) (Adult)


	2. Ruby Rose Sails a Boat (C)

Gamer4 in, and thank you very much for clicking on this story despite doubtless numerous signs not to do so. Honestly, the number one thing going through my mind right now is _Why do you do this to yourself?_ You'd think I had enough to do already, but no, here I am, getting ready to embark on yet another great big odyssey. I guess you could call this 'doing right what was once done wrong.' I have actually seen a couple other stories attempting to meld the worlds of RWBY and Stephen King's IT (which, sure enough, is what this story shall be, you've probably already realized that by now,) but I take issue with them. First, they don't tend to get past the first chapter (by which I imply this story will, I know, I know...) But more critically, they seem to have been released off the cuff of the movie released last year, and seemed to be mostly concerned with simply giving a blow-by-blow account of the story with RWBY characters. While there's nothing wrong with that, per se (after all, who am I to talk?), I have become a much larger fan of the story since seeing the movie, and think it deserves a little better. That's what this story intends to be- IT as Stephen King would have written it- if he was using RWBY characters. Does that necessarily make sense? No, and I usually don't- though I will be taking this story seriously, for the most part. Hopefully, you'll get a good idea what I'm talking about from this chapter. Okay, I think that's about all I had to say up here, let's dive in.

Disclaimer: Once, and only once. I do not own RWBY or Stephen King's IT. RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth, and Stephen King's IT belongs to... take a wild smegging guess. That's it, from now on, the disclaimer will be filled with the lyrics to the RWBY opening themes- though, with how long this may turn out, I may have to resort to other songs from the tracks eventually.

The Ice Cream Lady

Chapter I

Ruby Rose Sails a Boat

The absolutely unthinkable had happened- Yang Xiao Long was sick.

Though, perhaps that was unthinkable only to her younger sister, who looked upon the elder with something only a few degrees away from idol worship.

In the mind of young Ruby Rose, the idea of her elder sister getting sick was simply impossible- she was a genuine superhero, the likes of which could only be seen otherwise in comic books or anime. She kicked ass, took names, and, if ever something _did_ seem like it could actually pose a challenge to her, she burst into flames.

Perhaps it had something to do with Yang's other role in her life- that of her surrogate mother. The Rose-Xiao Long family was an odd one, to be sure. Yang's mother was not Ruby's, after all, and neither mother was currently around anyways, leaving Yang to fill in a more matronly role in Ruby's life. The younger girl could tell it stressed her sister at times, but she always more than rose to the challenge.

Which all went to say why Ruby was so shocked, that day in early September, when her godly, invincible older sister suddenly fell ill.

XXXX

It was less than a week before both sisters were set to, after years of separation, begin attending the same school again- Beacon High School, which, in reality, served students from middle _to_ high school. A monumental occasion, to be sure- Ruby was known for her difficulty in socializing away from her sister. Most of the friends she had now, even, only came to know her because they had come to know Yang first. Blake Belladonna, Nora Valkyrie and, Ruby's favorite, Weiss Schnee, who unintentionally entertained the younger girl to no end, had initially befriended Yang in the halls of Beacon, then come to know her sister during visits to her house nearer to the outskirts of Vale. Despite her younger age, they had taken a shine to her, until she was practically as much a part of their small group as they were. And, in just over a week, she would, at last, be attending the same school as them, even if grades apart.

In the week leading up to summer's end, Ruby and Yang had been playing outside almost non-stop, often with the presence of the others, heedless to the weather even as rain swept in and began relentlessly dousing the large town- until, at least, the day that Yang woke up red-faced, teary-eyed, and miserable. The first thing she had done that day was stagger over to a sink and proceed to empty the contents of her stomach into it, followed by a great deal of coughing that she would later swear involved some blood.

Needless to say, she was swiftly confined to her bed for the next few days- until she got better.

"How did _you_ get sick?" Ruby asked incredulously when she found out, eliciting a weak chuckle from her older sister.

"I know I'm awesome, Rubes, but not enough to punch out a-" here, she interrupted herself with a great deal of cacophonous coughing. *Cough, cough, co-cough, cough, COUGH...* "-a flu."

"But... but... but, but..." Ruby struggled for what to say- she knew her sister hated getting sick practically more than anything in the world. "We... we were going to make a boat today!"

"Hey, we can still make a boat," Yang smiled. "You really think a stupid little cough is gonna keep me from folding some paper?" Perhaps she'd have come across more convincingly had she not stopped to vomit into the bucket placed at her bedside.

"But... without you..." Ruby looked down at the ground, kicking her heels despondently.

"It's alright, Rubes," Yang shook her head, forcing a smile past the intense pain in her stomach. "Look, you can still sail it, and I'll still get to see- I guess I'll just miss the maiden voyage."

Ruby was torn- on the one hand, she didn't want to go without her sister, but on the other, she had _really_ set her heart on this boat.

"Come on," Yang nudged her lightly with the edge of her fist. "Go get some paper, I'll show you how to fold it. If you want to make it up to me, pay attention, and next time, you can fold _me_ a boat, huh?"

Ruby visibly brightened at the idea. "Yeah, sure," she beamed, her silver eyes glowing. Yang chuckled as her sister disappeared in a puff of rose petals, vanishing downstairs.

"Whoah!" came the distant chuckling voice of their father, Taiyang Xiao Long, their sole remaining parental figure. "What's the rush, Ruby?"

"Gotta find some paper- Yang's gonna fold me a boat!"

"A boat?" Taiyang repeated, glancing out the window at the torrential rain. "There _was_ a flood warning just yesterday, you know..."

" _Please,_ Dad?" Ruby asked, putting on her best puppy-dog eyes and pronounced pout. Taiyang's will broke almost immediately- among those who knew the Rose-Xiao Long family well, it was common knowledge that Taiyang could _never_ say no to his girls.

"Oh, all right," he conceded. "Just keep your cloak on tight, okay?"

"Of course, Dad!" Ruby cheered. Not, of course, that there had been any threat of her leaving her cloak behind anyways- the large, warm piece of cloth had been a gift to her by her mother, Summer Rose, not long before she had passed away- Ruby _never_ went outside without it. "Where's our construction paper?"

Taiyang chuckled, walking over to a nearby cabinet, reaching up above the top shelf, pulling down a large red sheaf of paper. "Here you go."

"Thanks!" Ruby practically yipped in joy. In another puff of rose petals, she disappeared, rushing up the stairs to where her sister awaited.

Yang smiled when her sister burst back into being, spreading rose petals across her bed, beaming at her as she presented her with the requested paper. "Nice," she nodded, beckoning her sister closer as she placed it on her lap, preparing to fold. "Now, watch closely..."

Over the next few minutes, Yang proceeded to give her sister a near-perfect demonstration of how to fold a paper boat, managing to keep her hands steady despite the encroaching sickness, and ultimately coming out of it with a perfectly seaworthy vessel of brilliant scarlet.

"Thank you, Yang," Ruby beamed as she held the boat reverently before her.

"She's not ready yet," Yang shook her head. "You don't want her to sink, do you?"

"Of course not!" Ruby shook her head fervently- the idea of losing the ship her sister had just put so much effort into crafting for her was almost as unthinkable as the idea of Yang getting sick in the first place.

"Right- head into the basement and grab some wax, okay?"

For the first time that day, Ruby froze. "Th- the basement?"

"Unless you know somewhere else in the house we keep wax," Yang shrugged, throwing a light glance out of the window.

Ruby gulped. "No, I... I don't, but..."

Ruby didn't want to admit it- her fear of the basement. After all, she'd grown up on stories of great heroes, conquering impossible odds, fighting the greatest monsters, and always expressing her wish to be just like them- what would it say for her dream if she was afraid of the non-existent monsters in her own basement? What would Aragorn, son of Arathorn say? The maidens of the seasons? What would Natsu Dragneel, the legendary dragon slayer, be if he had balked at the idea of going into his own basement to fetch a small bit of wax?

Finally, she sighed. "Right... I'll do it."

Yang gave the lightest of laughs as she turned to see her sister bracing herself as if preparing to dive into the deepest reaches of the ocean, or finally look on the dark side of the moon- just before it shattered again in its continuous cycle. "Make me proud, Rubes."

Ruby nodded firmly, before turning and setting off into the unknown, not stopping until she was directly in front of the door.

She creaked the door open slowly, gazing on that wooden flight of stairs into the cellar of the Rose-Xiao Long household. She had heard stories of grimm, creatures of the night that infested the darkest corners of the world, but they never scared her much. The heroes in the stories all cut such monsters down by the hundreds. The creature that lurked in the basement was of an altogether different sort- a beast created by her own mind, and thus, infinitely more terrifying.

She reached for the nearby lightswitch and unhesitatingly flicked it.

Nothing.

The power was out.

Of course the power was out- some part of Ruby felt very strongly she had known that already. She glanced in a nearby closet, thrusting it open to find a flashlight readily available. She would _not_ be going into the basement without light- that was the only thing the basement-monster feared. Light was knowledge- knowledge that there was never anything there to begin with, killing the fear that was all that kept the basement-creature alive.

She turned back to the stairs, clutching to the flashlight like a lifeline as she shone it into the blackness.

One foot on the stair.

*CREEEEAAAAK...*

The next step.

*CREEEEAAAAK...*

"Ruby, is this ship gonna sail today, or what?"

That was Yang- she shouldn't keep her sister waiting. Not when she'd gone out of her way to fold her such a nice boat, even with her illness, and _definitely_ not for the benefit of some creature lurking in the basement that didn't even exist!

"Just a minute!" Ruby called back, taking the remainder of the stairs two at a time, not stopping until her feet met stone.

The flashlight darted around the basement, searching through the shelves for the wax they sought. Finally, she saw it- situated just behind a large coffee tin, featuring, for some odd reason, a cane and a small pair of dark glasses. Just behind that was the wax that would serve as the finishing touch on the boat- her and Yang's boat.

Her feet pattered across the basement until she stood directly in front of the shelf, eagerly reaching for that wax, eager to be free of this place's dark confines, away from that horrid basement-creature-

and those lights in the corner of her vision.

She froze again, knuckles white around the flashlight, stepping momentarily away from the shelf, slowly turning, then not-so-slowly whipping up her flashlight to reveal-

a couple of spare lightbulbs laying on another shelf beneath the stairs, the light from her flashlight reflecting off of them in just the right way to resemble a pair of eyes. She gave a quick scoff of a laugh before turning back to the shelf with the wax. She darted her arm out, seized the container, and, in another puff of rose petals, was back on the stairs, rushing up to her sister's bedroom.

"Ah, there you are," Yang smiled when her sister appeared again, in a puff of petals, as usual. "Take a little longer, why don't you? I thought your semblance was speed!"

"I don't have full control yet!" Ruby justified indignantly. Looking down, she began tapping her index fingers together. "Besides, I thought I saw..."

Yang gave another light laugh. "The monster again, huh? But you showed him this time, didn't you?"

Ruby brightened at her sister's roundabout praise. "Yeah... yeah, I guess I did!"

Yang smiled as she reached into the box of wax- still hardened. "You know what we do now?"

Ruby nodded eagerly- she _loved_ it when her sister showed off.

Yang closed her eyes, and when she opened them, they had turned from their usual amethyst color to a fiery red. The temperature in the room rose noticeably, and the wax began to melt right there.

"You burn," Ruby smiled.

"Hotter than the sun in the middle of July," Yang nodded, completing the lyrics to one of her personal favorite songs.

The wax had melted. Unafraid of the heat, Yang reached into the tub, dabbed some on her fingers, and began to gingerly spread it across the boat, showing a level of care that those less knowledgeable about her would likely think her incapable of. And usually so- under most circumstances, her sister was the only one who got to see such care.

At long last, it was complete. Yang once again presented her sister with her scarlet vessel. "All yours, milady. The finest ship in any fleet."

Ruby beamed as she accepted it, holding it up to the light to glory in its magnificence. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Yang smiled at her. "Gonna take her out for a spin?"

"Her?" Ruby asked, question marks appearing in her eyes.

"You always call ships 'she,' Rubes." What was likely supposed to sound like a rebuke was broken by the warmth in the older sister's eyes.

Ruby smiled again. "Yeah, I'll take her out." The smile slowly disappeared. "I wish you could come..."

"So do I," Yang nodded solemnly. "But unless our boat's first job is to transport a load of puke, I think I'd be better off waiting for another voyage."

Ruby stuck her tongue between her teeth to keep herself from laughing. "I'm sure she'll be awesome."

"Any ship of the Rose-Xiao Long sisters oughtta be," Yang nodded. "Come on." She beckoned for her sister to come closer, and Ruby dove into her sister's arms for a hug. "Go out and show that ship off to the world, why don't ya?"

"Of course," Ruby spoke into her sister's wild mane of blond hair. "I love you, Yang."

"I love you too, Rubes," Yang squeezed even tighter.

"Yang- Yang- choking!" came a sudden squeal next to her.

"Oh- sorry!" Yang blushed lightly as she released her sister to see her gasping for breath and rubbing at her ribs.

"It's alright," Ruby shook off the pain in a voice that suggested she was still struggling to breathe. "Well... off she goes!"

"Don't forget your cloak!" Yang called after her, even knowing how redundant it was. Ruby didn't call back, but Yang weakly stood up, crossing the minuscule distance between her bed and window to see Ruby, only seconds later, darting out into the rain, vivid red cloak flowing behind her. She momentarily turned back to Yang's window and flashed a cheerful peace sign before dashing off into the rain, eager to test her paper boat. Yang gave one last light chuckle before returning to her bed and struggling to return to sleep.

They never saw each other again.

XXXX

Ruby didn't waste any time in placing her crimson ship into a length of running water on the side of the street- upon which it wasted no time in taking off at speeds even Ruby couldn't usually match. Ruby didn't mind- this would be her first challenge in a while. She took off, laughing delightedly as she tore through the rain, working to keep up with her beloved vessel. True, her semblance _was_ speed, but, as she had so shamefacedly told Yang, she didn't have full control over it yet. Not that she'd use it even if she could- why would she want to ruin the fun of this race against her and her sister's finest creation?

The wax placed on every exposed inch of paper did the boat well- not a drop of water affected it as it tore down the street, Ruby hot on its heels. Ruby loved to run- always had. When her semblance had first shown itself as speed, hardly anyone had been surprised. She was always at her happiest when sprinting around, and Taiyang had already expressed visions of one day seeing her tear apart other schools' track teams. Ruby had entertained the idea, but the thought of rules being enforced on her running never seemed appealing. True, competitive running might be fun on its own, but the best runs were the ones where she was allowed to go wherever she wanted, as quickly as she desired.

Abruptly, Ruby lost her footing, slipping on one particular patch of ground that was oddly slicker than the rest. By the time she regained her footing, the boat had already gained a great deal of ground on her. "No!" she yelped to herself- the last thing she wanted was to _lose_ this work of art her sister had bequeathed to her.

She took off after it, but her misstep had given quite a bit of ground, leaving her helpless to stop it as it rushed towards a nearby stormdrain, knocking momentarily against a pebble at the entrance, then slipping in.

"NO!" Ruby screamed as she dashed towards it. She quickly knelt down, peering into the darkness, struggling to see. "Oh... no, no, no, no... Yang won't be happy..." And after all the time she'd spent on it, too...

Abruptly, Ruby leapt backwards on the pavement, startled by seeing... _something_ in the drain. Never had she entertained the idea of seeing anything there, let alone a pair of great, yellow eyes lurking in the darkness...

"Hello, Ruby," came a soft voice from the darkness.

Ruby momentarily closed her own silver eyes, shaking her head in wonder, before looking again.

Sure enough, there _was_ someone in the stormdrain. A woman- short, by the looks of things, with multicolored hair- a bright strawberry pink on one side, a deep chocolate brown on the other. Around her neck were several necklaces, wearing a small white coat over a white-and-brown shirt- anything lower than that was concealed by the lower edge of the drain. In one gloved hand, she held a large parasol, and in the other-

"My boat!" Ruby's face lit up with glee.

"I thought this might be yours," the woman spoke softly again, giving a light smile. "Would you like it back?"

"Yes, yes I would!" Ruby nodded fervently- to think she'd just been _afraid_ of this woman! Yellow eyes? She could see her eyes now, plain as day- amethysts. The exact same shade of amethyst, she realized with a warm feeling in her stomach, as her own sister, Yang. Slowly, she began crawling closer to the drain. "But... but why are you down there?"

"An embarrassing story," the woman shied away, glancing to the side- though her cheeks showed no blush. "The storm- the storm blew me and all my friends into the sewers. You look like a clever girl- perhaps you could come down and help me find them? We have ice cream that we give to good little girls like you."

Ruby blinked again- she could have sworn she saw the woman holding a parasol, but that must have been wrong- very clearly, in her hand, was a large pink ice cream cone.

However, rather than drawing her closer, Ruby began to back away. "No... sorry, but my Dad always tells me not to take anything from strangers."

"Your father sounds like a very wise man," the woman nodded, and Ruby noticed another odd detail about her- whenever she spoke, her mouth seemed... disconnected from her voice. Soft as it was, it was still louder than one would expect with the minimal amount of movement from her lips. Besides that, her mouth's movements seemed a little... off when she talked. She didn't know how to explain it, but the best comparison she could think of was that it seemed like those old monster movies or anime that Yang liked to watch, where the voices didn't always match the character's mouths. "Well, in that case... my name is... Neo. Yes, Neo... that's what they call me. Neo... Ruby." As she spoke, she gestured with the hand holding the boat. "Neo, Ruby. Ruby, Neo. We know each other now, don't we?"

"I guess..." Ruby nodded offhandedly, uncertain of what, exactly, to do.

Perhaps sensing Ruby's unease, 'Neo' changed the subject. "Do you have any friends, Ruby?"

"A few," Ruby spoke tentatively. "I mean, they're mostly older than me, I just know them through my sister. Blake, Nora... Weiss... but my best friend is my sister, Yang!" Her eyes brightened simply talking about her sister.

"They sound fun," Neo seemed to whisper. "I'd very much like to meet them, I think... perhaps you could bring them to me, and we could go looking for _my_ friends together..."

Ruby blinked. "Maybe... maybe another time." Somehow, this whole thing was starting to seem more and more wrong by the moment. "Anyways... I... I have to go."

Neo cocked her head slightly. "You don't want to leave without your boat, though, do you?" As she spoke, she raised her hand with the crimson ship again. "There's no _telling_ what Yang would do if you went back without it..."

Ruby hesitated. She couldn't imagine Yang getting _too_ mad at her, but she definitely didn't want to go back and explain to her sister that she'd lost their beloved boat down a storm drain.

Slowly, she knelt down, earning a smile from Neo as she began approaching steadily across the cement. The woman in the sewer slowly, steadily pulled the boat a little closer to herself, hardly even noticeable. Ruby steadily reached out, into the darkness of the drain, beginning to wrap her fingers around the upper sail...

And then, Neo's face began to change. Her eyes turned yellow once more, and her mouth opened, revealing... revealing...

What Ruby saw in the darkness of the drain destroyed her. The creature in the basement was nothing- _nothing_ \- compared to what now lay in front of her. Practically every part of her mind was wiped and replaced with sheer terror of the thing wrapping around her arm. Every story she'd ever heard, every fear she'd ever had was utterly eclipsed- here, in the drain in her own hometown of Vale, was everything she did not- could not- know.

At the shoulder, her arm tore off, and at last, her instincts for self-preservation kicked in, sending her scrabbling desperately across the pavement with her remaining hand.

Ruby's last thoughts were not of the creature in the basement, or of the heroes of the stories she'd heard, or of the greatest boat to ever sail. The only thoughts in her mind were expressed in her final shriek as she felt a set of fingers wrapping around her ankle and begin to drag her back towards the drain-

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!"

XXXX

In the house nearby was the elderly owner of the local drugstore, _From Dust 'Til Dawn_. Ruby's last desperate scream drew him briefly onto his porch, where he could see nothing but a road already being washed clean of the young girl's blood by the swirling rain.

Ruby did not return home that night, or the next, and the next. Yang and her father swiftly reported her disappearance to the local police, who never managed to find anything at all. For a while, they held out hope that Ruby would stagger back into the house one day, apologizing profusely for an impromptu party at Weiss's house, perhaps, or Nora's.

When Ruby had yet to reappear by the time Yang returned to Beacon High, she began to speak with a stutter for the first time.

 _XXXX_

A very happy first chapter, though anyone who's even heard of the original story likely saw it coming a mile away. So far, we haven't strayed too far from other stories like this, but next chapter, we'll be ducking forward in time a bit. Until then, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	3. Roman Torchwick Takes a Fall (A)

Gamer4 in. You know, given that a large portion of the reason I'm writing this at all is to provide a more complete version of an idea that's only been half-baked before, I thought it might be nice to prove my own commitment to the project by getting up another chapter sooner than I usually do- i.e., before the turn of the millennium. As such, let us begin this next chapter- a little different from what you might expect, but hopefully you can enjoy it nonetheless. Sidenote- the central police officer here may come across as an OC, but chalk that up to me having to come up with names and personalities whole-cloth based on the brief appearances of police in RWBY- namely, the only two we ever see, investigating a robbery in Volume 1. That said, both his personality and name are taken from _Heavy Rain,_ assuming any of you have ever played _that_ game. Not necessarily an OC, not necessarily a crossover, take it as you will. Moving on.

Disclaimer: They see you as young and helpless, they see you as just a child, surprise when they find out that a warrior will soon run wild.

Chapter II

Roman Torchwick Takes a Fall

It was a dark, chilly morning in late November that the body of Roman Torchwick was fished out of Vale's Haven River.

According to all reports, it was thanks to an old fisherman known only to his immediate neighbors that the corpse was found at all- he had a reputation for always opening his day with a quick fishing trip, regardless of rain, sleet, or snow, only prevented if the river froze over- which hardly ever happened anyways.

It was often said of the Haven River that it had two states of being- large, swollen, and swift, or barely a trickle along the riverbed. It is difficult to tell what would have been better for Torchwick- perhaps he might have survived his tumble from Autumn Bridge, some thought, if the river had been higher, though others argue that it is just as likely he would have been swept away by the rapid current. There was no point, however, in fussing over might-have-beens, as the river had _not_ been swollen, making it doubtful whether he landed in the river at all, or simply broken his neck on the rocks.

The previous night, a nearby museum had been robbed, relieved of a precious artifact it held in high esteem- an antique lantern, of sorts, pulled from the depths of ancient ruins half a world away from the sleepy town of Vale, but had nonetheless found its way there through unknown channels. Later that night, thanks to the efforts of Vale's Finest, with the subtle (or not-so-subtle) assistance of the city's librarian, Lie Ren, two of the criminals were captured- one at their hideout, the other by the banks of the river itself. When questioned about the location of the stolen artifact, the seeming leader of the heist, Cinder Fall, remained stonily silent, leaving the police to search for information from her crony, a man by the name of Mercury Black- a task somewhat more daunting than they'd initially thought.

On that chilly November morning, Cinder Fall was taken into one room of the Vale Police Department, Mercury Black to another, and thus began the hour or so of questioning as to the location of the lantern, or the presence of any other associates, coming to an end only when an old fisherman called in to report a dead body on the banks of the river.

Cinder, as it turned out, was an expert in hiding her true emotions behind an impenetrable poker face- no technique the officers were permitted to use ever resulted in any more information being derived from her. Mercury, on the other hand, was... surprisingly talkative. Perhaps, in fact, _too_ talkative- he babbled so much during his interrogation that his inquisitors, Carter Blake of the Vale Police Force and Lie Ren, the local librarian, were forced to sift through a great deal of nonsense in their efforts to get to the truth of the matter. On multiple occasions, Mr. Blake had made efforts to simply beat the information out of his quarry, stopped only by the almost soothing presence of his partner.

Lie Ren was an interesting individual, to be certain. He had initially been a total nobody who simply applied for a job at the Vale Public Library, where his dedication, steady work ethic, and keen attention to detail swiftly saw him rise to become the owner of the institution. However, that was not what he was most well-known for- what most knew him for was his side job, that so rarely made its way into official records.

Despite its reputation as a somewhat sleepy town in the middle of nowhere, it couldn't be denied that Vale had a somewhat secret problem with... unusual crime. Setting aside bizarre incidents that had plagued the area since its inception, odd goins-on seemed more the norm than the exception at times. In particularly odd cases, while it was never included in official reports, the police would turn to that local librarian, Lie Ren, whose attention to detail turned out to be good for a great deal more than simply sorting books.

The man was tall, though not imposing- he was rather on the slender side, especially when his height was taken into account. His hair was long, reaching down to his lower back in a neatly-kept ponytail, entirely black except for a pink streak that fell over one of his equally-pink eyes. When questioned why there was a pink streak in his hair, his eyes would often be overcome with a faraway, distant look. A faint smile would grace his features, and he would speak in that characteristically calm tone of his, "A long time ago, a... friend dyed it that way for a joke. She ended up liking the look enough for me to keep it afterwards... I guess I got so used to it that it would seem stranger to leave it behind."

Nobody knew who this friend might be- very little was known about the town librarian's personal life, as he so often kept entirely to himself.

With his history with assisting the police force in mind, it was only natural that when a gang of career criminals infiltrated the town and began robbing every large establishment they could find, one by one, it was Lie Ren that they turned to. It was thanks to him that Cinder Fall returned to her hideout to find five police officers waiting for her. It was thanks to him that they'd known it was the antique lantern they'd really been after. It was not, however, thanks to him that the third member of the gang, Roman Torchwick, was found- the credit for that went to the elderly fisherman who found him by chance on a normal fishing trip.

On paper, through all the evidence at hand, and particularly with Mercury's testimony, muddled as it was by inane babble, the case seemed rather simple-

The previous day, the Vale Museum had been infiltrated by the trio of criminals, who had managed to expertly steal the lantern without tripping a single alarm.

As they were making their getaway, they had been crossing over the bridge above Haven River when an argument broke out- about what, it was impossible to discern. Cinder wouldn't tell, and it was impossible to interpret through Mercury's rambling. However, regardless of the nature of the conflict, whether it was something that had been brewing for a long time before, or only come into being as they crossed over that bridge, the end result was the same- Cinder had thrown Torchwick over the side of the bridge and towards the river below, which, at the time, was more of a creek than a full river.

The remaining criminals had recommenced their getaway until Cinder realized that, when Torchwick had fallen, he had taken the lantern with him, and had swiftly ordered Mercury back to the riverbed to recover it.

From there, Cinder returned to the hideout, only to be ambushed by the officers lying in wait.

From there, Mercury followed her orders back to the river, where he... failed to recover either Torchwick's body or the lantern he had taken with him.

And here, the story grew fuzzy, thanks primarily to two details.

First, as you may have gathered, was Mercury himself. The records of the man beforehand showed someone much like Cinder- who would not break under questioning, who would remain steadfastly silent regardless of the technique used, hiding everything behind a smug, cocky grin.

This was _not_ the man found at the banks of the river. When the police had located him, he had been _sobbing._ He had been curled up beside the water, running his hands repeatedly over his legs, ranting about the rise and fall of man (or possibly of _a_ man), of a small flame in the darkness, and of a shining, gleaming baseball bat. Compared to Cinder, he had hardly resisted at all as the police hoisted him up and practically dragged him back to the department. And from there, it was a chore on the part of both Police Lieutenant Carter Blake and Local Librarian Extraordinaire Lie Ren to extract the truth of the matter from him, through conflicting information, rambling asides, and general babble.

"I am SICK of this SHIT!" Blake screamed at one point, slamming his hands down on the table. "You will either tell me the truth, or Gods help me..."

"Calm down," Ren spoke up, raising a gentle hand. "You can't coerce anything from him- that will just render his testimony useless- and you don't want _that,_ do you?"

Carter threw a glare in Ren's direction, but gave a huff and backed off anyways. He had clearly expressed his disapproval, but conceded the point nonetheless. Ren wasn't certain what to make of this lieutenant- he seemed remarkably invested in a series of grand larceny cases, even if the most recent had ended in murder. However, that wasn't of his concern- what drew his attention was another piece of information lurking within Mercury's testimony- words that meant nothing to Carter, nor would they to any other police officer, but had the potential to mean a great deal to him.

"So... tell me about this woman."

Carter snorted. "You're really digging deeper into _that,_ Ren? This guy's half-insane, this is nothing that'll ever hold in court."

Mercury, however, looked back at him, eyes wide in terror. "I can't... I can't talk about... she'll- she's... always..."

"She can't get you here, Mercury," Ren spoke soothingly, attempting to calm his witness down, and eliciting another snort from the police officer.

"Of course she can't- she's a figment of his imagination."

Ren closed his eyes briefly, then reached out, brushing lightly against Mercury's hand, struggling to keep the hysterical man calm. "Think back... what did you see?"

Mercury seemed only moderately appeased, hyperventilating as he struggled to think back. "Well... I... I had to go back for the lantern... that was what the heist was all about- it was all we cared about- don't know why, it doesn't- but anyways... I looked back, and... and Torchwick was still alive, somehow- he was broken, sure- after a fall like that- but he was still alive- crawling across the rocks... I didn't know what I'd do- just get the lantern- had to get the lantern- but then there was... there was someone else..."

"There's always someone else," Carter snarled. "Always anyone but you."

Ren raised his hand again. "Describe her, would you?"

"She was short- I think... oh, God... her hair was different colors- pink one side, brown the other- her eyes were the same way... she kept an umbrella in one hand... and she walked up to him, and she... she..."

Ren closed his eyes, almost in reluctant acceptance. "What did she do, Mercury?"

Mercury's breathing became faster, shallower- his knuckles were clenching tight enough to draw blood from his palms. "That... that THING! THAT FUCKING THING! IT WASN'T A WOMAN, IT WAS A MONSTER! IT BENT OVER HIM, OPENED HER MOUTH- ALL THOSE TEETH- THOSE LIGHTS- THOSE HORRIBLE FUCKING LIGHTS- SHE RIPPED HIM APART- AND THEN... _and then..._ "

Ren remained calm throughout Mercury's outburst. Carter Blake- less so.

"DON'T TRY TO HIDE THE TRUTH, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" the lieutenant burst out as Mercury finally worked himself back into a state of relative calm. "Don't foist the blame off on anyone else- it was your boss, little Ms. Fall that killed him by throwing him over the side- then _you_ came back to finish him off!"

"No- no!" Mercury slammed his head into the desk between them, working himself back up again. "I might have, but I would never- I couldn't do _that!_ That woman, that... that _creature..._ she turned to me, when she was done, and she tried to get me to come closer... she offered me... she offered me an ice cream cone..."

Upon which Carter broke down in sadistic, humorless laughter. "An _ice cream cone-_ you _can't_ tell me you're taking this seriously, Ren!"

Before Ren could respond, Mercury was working himself up again. "It's true, it's- she's here! She's _in this building!_ SHE'S BEHIND YOU! OH, GOD, OH, GOD- SHE'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!"

Carter did not turn, but Ren did, spinning around to see... nothing. Whatever Mercury had seen before, what he was seeing now existed solely in his own mind.

Gently, Ren reached out and tapped Carter on the shoulder, motioning minutely with his head to leave the room.

On the outside, Carter sighed. "What... a load... of shit."

"You don't believe his story, then?"

"What, that some monster tore apart his partner before he could get to him? Not particularly, no."

Ren sighed. That was the second thing muddying the facts of this case- the state of Roman Torchwick's body. According to the coroner's report, he had, in fact, not died from the initial fall- though it had hardly helped him. Broken bones, internal bleeding- the fall may not have been the killing blow, but had he survived a little longer, it would have been.

In one hand, sure enough, had been the lantern that had caused all the trouble in the first place- his hand had turned white, clenching itself around the lantern's handle. On his face had been a look of fear, but the most chilling thing was the left side of his body.

He had not been truly torn apart, as per Mercury's story- but he had been horrifically, horrifically mangled. Strips of flesh had been torn away, and there _were_ very prominent tooth marks along the bloody mess. His face did not escape unscathed- his left cheek was missing, and the upper portions were massively scarred.

"He may have embellished some details," Ren admitted, "but there's clearly a little more to his death than a little tumble."

"So you think there was actually a woman there who turned into a monster?" Carter lowered his lids halfway. "Or is there a cult of midgets along the Haven River that ritualistically practice cannibalism?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Ren spoke bluntly, either not noticing or intentionally ignoring the sarcasm. "To be fair, I'm not sure of anything that could have done that to his body."

"Well, here's what _I'm_ sure of," Carter turned on him. "If we include this in our report, then we can forget about seeing these bastards go away for life. And don't tell me you don't think they deserve it- they killed their own partner. You introduce this guy's little fairy tale, this is all gonna go into legal limbo until we find this mysterious woman- which, I can't emphasize enough, we never will. As far as I'm concerned- as far as the reports are concerned- as far as everyone in this damn town is concerned- those marks were left by some wild animal. He went over the bridge, and got mauled by a wild animal. There was no woman, and these two go away. Understand?"

Ren sighed, closing his eyes gently. "I suppose that isn't entirely innaccurate..."

"Good," Carter nodded firmly. "Come on, let's make this happen."

XXXX

In the days to come, Cinder and Mercury were tried for their crimes. Cinder, as unrepentant as ever, was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Roman Torchwick, a sentence later reduced as she hadn't landed the _killing_ blow- but still remained in prison for life when combined with her sentences for grand larceny.

Mercury Black's mental condition was enough for him to dodge prison, instead being sent to a nearby mental asylum, where he spent several months showing a steady improvement- only to take his own life via hanging as soon as he was capable of doing so.

Roman Torchwick was buried unceremoniously in an unmarked grave at the edge of the Vale Cemetary.

And nowhere, in any reports of the incident, official or otherwise, was there ever mentioned a short woman with multicolored hair, heterochromatic eyes, and razor-sharp teeth.

Nowhere except the private journal of one Lie Ren.

 _XXXX_

A tad more conflicted about this chapter, as we're deviating a little more from the text- both a blessing and a curse. Depending on reaction to these set-up chapters, we might mix up the story's structure a little bit- lots of darting back and forth in time either way. As ever, your input is greatly appreciated- so until next time, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	4. Pyrrha Nikos Gets a Drink (A)

Gamer4 in. Not really certain I have much to say this time around- padding out these opening notes will only serve to delay the chapter itself anyways. Let's dive in.

Disclaimer: Prepare for your greatest moments, prepare for your darkest hour- the dream that you've always dreamed is suddenly about to flower.

Chapter III

Pyrrha Nikos Gets a Drink

Hei Xiong Jr. had learned many lessons over his decade so far tending the bar at the edge of his family's dance club. Probably his earliest lesson had been never to let his patrons know that he so often went by the name 'Junior' in the first place. One of his former customers, a blond woman with a penchant for blowing up things she didn't like, would insist she had taught him a much more valuable lesson- though, at the time, he'd been too busy tearing his hair out to be certain he'd actually learned _anything._

But if one were to ask _him_ what _he_ thought his most valuable lesson was, it was to know his patrons almost as well as he knew himself.

And know his patrons he did- he knew which seat most of them would take, knew how to tell by sight of their face exactly what mood they were in, and, more often than not, based on that, was able to provide them with the drink they needed before they themselves had asked for it.

However, when it came to special relationships with his customers, things didn't get much better- or odder- than his personal favorite, Pyrrha Nikos.

He had first met Pyrrha Nikos in person five years ago, one Friday night when she had sauntered into the club and made straight for the bar, saying she'd heard that he provided the best drinks in town. He was hardly one to deny her- especially as the bar had so recently been rebuilt after the aforementioned blond had torn it apart- and had even invited two of his employees, the Malachite Twins, to keep her company as she drank.

Correlation to his fears of the club being virtually ransacked again do not necessarily amount to causation.

However, Pyrrha was a far cry from that other customer- she remained almost unnaturally polite throughout her visit, especially given her profession- and the fame it brought her.

When most people in the world heard the name 'Pyrrha Nikos', it conjured up images of the great Amazon, a fighter in world-class tournaments who had appeared almost from nowhere to rapidly gain a reputation as 'The Invincible Girl.' Anybody who was anybody followed the many fighting tournaments held across the world of Remnant, and everybody who followed those knew full well of the Rising Star of Mistral.

Once more, correlation between his knowledge of her background and fear of what she might do do not necessarily amount to causation.

Junior didn't know what he'd expected that first night when Pyrrha had appeared- for her to be stuck-up and snooty, perhaps, as many famous people were, perhaps to be bold, brazen, and destructive as... _she..._ had been, but she defied all expectations, quietly asking for whatever the house recommended, barely ever raising her voice above the bare minimum of what was necessary as she provided a pleasant amount of small talk over her drink, before leaving a surprisingly generous tip on the way out.

"A surprisingly relaxing place, for a dance club," she'd commented as she prepared to make her exit. "I think I'll be back again."

And so she had been, the next week... and the next week... and the next week... and the week after that. Reliably, at least once a week every week for the past five years, Pyrrha would stop by the Dance Club, silently make her way over to Junior's bar, order a drink seemingly at random, and proceed to make polite conversation with him or the Malachite Twins as they were available before leaving a generous tip on the way out.

It almost bordered on eccentricity, in Junior's eyes- even when she was fighting in tournaments halfway across the globe, she always seemed to find her way back at least once a week in visits that the Malachite Twins, for one, seemed to gradually come to look forward to, and he would be lying if he said he didn't throw a glance or two at the door as Friday- her favorite day to come in- rolled around, expecting or perhaps even hoping to see a vivid head of red hair making its way towards the bar.

Had he not known it was the same person, he'd hardly believe it himself- in person, she was far, far removed from her persona on the battlefield. The Pyrrha Nikos known to most of the world was an unstoppable titan, at least six feet tall, dressed in Spartan armor, topped off with a wild mane stained red with the blood of her opponents- and then she appeared in his bar, quiet, reserved, and impeccably polite, always accepting a drink with a small smile on her face, ready to listen to any problems her bartender or accompanying twins had, and always ready to share her own frustrations with them, should the need arise.

For someone who seemed so many worlds apart from the one he lived in, Junior had truly come to consider her a friend, knowing her better than any other patron who ever sat at his bar and asked for a drink- and because of all that, when he saw her enter the dance club with her head hanging, hair seeming to droop about her face, and _especially_ when her usually-steady hands shook as she placed them on the counter... it raised quite a few alarms in the back of his mind.

"Hello, again." She made a valiant effort at her usual chirpy greeting, but he could hear the strain in her voice.

"Glad to see ya, Wondergirl," Junior greeted her back. Exactly when 'Wondergirl' had become Pyrrha's nickname, he himself couldn't remember. As he recalled, one of the Malachites had jokingly referred to her as such somewhere along the line- Miltia, if he recalled correctly- and the name had simply stuck. "What can I do you for?"

"The strongest drink you have, in the largest glass you have." As she spoke, Pyrrha raised her head, shocking Junior deeply- her skin had always been pale, but now she was shockingly white. "I'll be... hitting the road again as soon as I leave."

Junior cast his eyes along the counter until he spied the Malachite Twins- he could see they had already noticed her arrival. He nodded, motioning with his head, and they eagerly descended upon their visitor as he turned to forage for glass and drink alike.

"Is something wrong, Wondergirl? You look like you've seen a ghost!" he heard one of the twins exclaim behind his back.

"That's not... too far from the truth..." Pyrrha muttered, more quietly than ever he'd heard her speak.

Junior was growing more and more concerned- for her weekly visits, Pyrrha had never been a huge drinker. There was that one time, around Christmas, that she'd gotten into a drinking contest with another customer that had ended with him passed out on the ground and her vomiting into the toilet, but that was about all he could think of. For her to suddenly be demanding a drink like this, looking as she did... he could only imagine what had brought about this change.

"So, where ya headed to next?" he asked as he finally finished mixing her drink into a glass practically the size of a barrel. "Vacuo? Atlas? Back to Mistral?"

"None of the above," Pyrrha shook her head listlessly. "I'm going to Vale."

Pyrrha's audience blinked in confusion. "Vale?" Melanie Malachite wondered aloud. "I can't say I've heard of that kingdom..."

"Not a kingdom," Pyrrha corrected halfheartedly. "A town- too large to be a town, not large enough to be a city, but the people call it a town, so there you go."

"An exhibition match of some sort?" Junior guessed, slamming the tank of alcohol on the counter in front of her.

"No, no, nothing like that," Pyrrha shook her head again. "I just got a call from... from a friend who lives out there." She then grasped onto the flagon in front of her and, to the surprise of her audience, downed a third of it in one gulp. She then allowed it to drop back to the counter before leaning back in the chair, looking briefly as though she'd been punched in the face. "Thanks, I needed that..."

"So, what's in Vale that's so important?" Miltia asked, taking the offensive.

Pyrrha straightened up and gazed around for a moment before asking, "Do any of you... remember your childhoods?"

A collective blink of confusion went off around the group. "Childhood?" Melanie asked.

"If you were to ask some people, they'd say Junior's still in his," Miltia put in, likely in a half-hearted attempt to raise the mood a bit.

Pyrrha hardly seemed to notice, throwing a glassy stare out at the dance floor for a moment before turning back to them. "For a long time, if you'd asked me that question, I'd have said yes, no thought about it. Of course- how could I forget? But now... now I'm not so certain..."

"Nostalgia, is it?" Junior asked, trying to bring the conversation to grounds he understood, though his instincts told him whatever was plaguing the Great Amazon went far, far deeper than that.

"No, not nostalgia," Pyrrha disagreed, staring into the remaining alcohol. "This call... everything changed once I heard it... I remembered so much... so much I'd forgotten without even realizing it..."

"Pyrrha," Melanie spoke up, a look of concern etched into her face, mirrored on the faces of her twin and her employer, "you're scaring us..."

Without warning, Pyrrha reached for the flagon, downing half of what was left right in front of their eyes. Another reel back, as though someone had just delivered a vicious uppercut. "I may need another, Junior."

"I hope you're not driving yourself back home," Junior raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not going home," Pyrrha shook her head, her movements becoming more... floppy under the influence of the liquor. "I'll be heading out and grabbing a taxi to the airport, and from there... well, I suppose I _am_ going home, in a way..."

An awkward silence descended on the bar, the twins and Junior exchanging looks of confusion and nerves as they waited for what their regular guest would say next.

Seemingly realizing what they were waiting for, Pyrrha blinked a couple times before righting herself and beginning to speak. "I _was_ born and raised in Mistral most of my life, but there was one year- _dust,_ it was a long time ago, but there _was_ one year I spent elsewhere. My parents' work was bumping us around Mistral all the time anyways, I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised when it eventually took us to a different kingdom- to an old, sleepy town called Vale. They were a couple months into the school year already, but I went in anyways, stayed the rest of the year, and that summer... that summer, it was the best _and_ the worst of my life..."

The confusion intensified- sure, they knew Pyrrha was willing to unload a frustration here or a gripe there, but she'd never opened up to this extent before, emptying out her entire life story. Nonetheless, she continued.

"Things were different back then- _nobody_ wanted to be my friend. Probably something to do with being the new kid- and being so _fat._ "

 _This,_ above anything, seemed to break the tension- the Malachite Twins broke down laughing, and even Junior couldn't hide a smirk. "Pull the other one, it's got bells on," he chuckled lightly.

This, at last, elicited a weak smile from Pyrrha. "Something funny?"

" _You? Fat?"_ Miltia chortled.

"The Great Amazon?" Melanie couldn't help putting in.

Pyrrha's laugh was as weak as her smile, but it _was_ a laugh nonetheless. "You have no _idea,_ " she forced out between her light chuckle. "Sometimes I had problems fitting through _doors_."

This elicited some more laughter from the group, that slowly died as Pyrrha gave up on her smile, and returned to gazing into her flagon. "You're- you're serious, aren't you?" Junior asked.

"Oh, yeah," Pyrrha nodded. "In fact- to give you an idea..."

She leaned backwards, reached down, and began to lift her shirt. The Malachites gasped, and Junior briefly made to look away- but she only barely lifted the shirt above her navel, before pointing a little to its left. "See that?"

The three bartenders looked closely, and sure enough, right near her belly button, curving around it, was a thin white C.

"What happened there?" Junior wondered.

"The school bully," Pyrrha explained, eyes slipping in and out of focus as she lowered her shirt again. "Just dumb luck I don't have his whole _name_ across my stomach..."

"My God..." the Malachite Twins stared at her for a moment, dumbstruck.

"But it wasn't all bad, either," Pyrrha recalled. "I had a group of friends- we met over the summer, and that's what made it the best. We would meet every day... run around town... explore the woods... play in the river... I would always fall behind, and they'd always wait up for me... I loved them like they were my own family..."

With that, she drained the rest of the tank. Junior's eyes practically bugged out when he realized she'd drained the whole thing in three fell gulps.

"And then, today, one of them calls me up out of the blue, and I realize I hadn't even thought about them in almost thirty years," Pyrrha began again, as if she hadn't just paused to continue her campaign to pickle her internal organs. "Good old Ren... he was an outsider, too, you know... that group took him in where no one else would... just like me... but when I heard his voice on the phone, it took me a few seconds to realize who 'Lie Ren' even was!"

"Well, you say it's been thirty years..." Junior pointed out, prompting Pyrrha to wave her head from side to side, now looking more like a dog than anything else.

"Not like that... not like that! There weren't half-remembered faces, vague memories of what happened... I remembered nothing at all! Then he explained who he was, and like a wave hit me, it all came rushing back! Everything! And I remembered... I remembered what I have to do..."

She looked up at them all, her eyes glassy, but surprisingly clear for all the alcohol she'd just consumed. "I made a promise back then- a promise! And now... it's time to fulfill it..."

A long, long silence fell, until at long last, Pyrrha began foraging around in her pockets. "Here... these are for you."

All three of them gaped as she produced three large, round coins made of what seemed to be solid silver. "You've all been such good friends to me over the past few years... I can't go without... without acknowledging that. Take these... and remember the days that silver could kill monsters."

Very carefully, very deliberately, she handed one coin to Melanie, one to Miltia, and finally, one to Junior. "So... what do I owe you for the drink?"

In a surreal, almost dreamlike state, Junior found himself shaking his own head. "That one was on the house."

Pyrrha gave one last weak smile. "Well, how about that? Well, my taxi ought to be here by now..."

She stood up uneasily, but held remarkably steady for the feat she'd just accomplished.

Junior and the twins exchanged some more uneasy looks. Pyrrha wasn't the first customer to have a night like this, and the results of other such nights was clearly hanging over them like a shadow. It was enough for Melanie to jump to her feet and ask, almost desperately- "You'll be back next week, right, Pyrrha?"

It was a testament to the situation that hardly anyone acknowledged the use of that name when 'Wondergirl' had been used almost exclusively for four years now. Pyrrha sighed as she began making her way back towards the doors. "I'd like to, but I'm afraid I can't promise anything..."

Finally, Junior spoke up, giving voice to the dread lurking in his and the Twins' hearts, not wanting to put it into words, but having to know... "You aren't planning on offing yourself, are you?"

Finally, Pyrrha stopped, turning back to them with the weakest smile they'd ever seen, and momentarily, each of them could swear they were no longer looking at their friend Pyrrha Nikos, but _through_ her. The real Pyrrha Nikos, it seemed, was dead somewhere, perhaps after a particularly violent match, and what stood before them was merely her ghost. "Don't worry- I'm just fulfilling a promise. Killing myself is the furthest thing from my mind."

And then she was gone, disappearing out the doors but leaving her longtime friends with a nagging suspicion that she'd said something else on the way out, something that sounded very much like,

"Though I might be better off if I did."

 _XXXX_

First appearance without The Ice Cream Lady. On that subject, the thought occurs that 'The Ice Cream Lady' is a rather stupid name, albeit one that seemed well and good when I was starting off- what do you want, I was as close as I get to high. Thus, in addition to my usual request for reviews, I ask you, dear readers, if you have a better title? I didn't want to call this story something ridiculous like 'It: RWBY Edition,' but I'm honestly not sure anymore that the title I _did_ pick was much better. Ah, well, whether you have a better idea or not, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	5. Nora Valkyrie Orders Some Pancakes (A)

Gamer4 in. In celebration of this being the fourth chapter, four being my favorite number (as you may have been able to tell,) this shall be the introductory chapter of my favorite character from the main show. I know, I'm unique, crucify me. Alright, getting right to it.

Disclaimer: We are lightning straying from the thunder, miracles of ancient wonder!

Chapter IV

Nora Valkyrie Orders Some Pancakes

Nora Valkyrie's scroll skidded across the ground, her hands abandoning it to the whims of gravity in favor of supporting her over the toilet as she proceeded to empty the contents of her stomach into it.

*BLAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!*

A voice echoed from the scroll nearby, concern filling every word. "Nora? Are you okay? Nora?"

Nora looked up, white-faced and shaking, attempting to reach for the scroll again. "I-I'm okay... no, nope, I'm not..."

Followed by more vomiting into the porcelain bowl in front of her.

XXXX

Just three hours earlier, she had been having the time of her life- though, in all fairness, a casual observer would be hard-pressed to determine when Nora Valkyrie was _not_ having the time of her life, given the amount of enthusiasm she put into practically everything she did. If ever there had been a natural-born entertainer, it was Nora Valkyrie- from stand-up comedy routines, parodies of songs and cartoons released through DustTube, and the occasional minor role in film, she had a way of taking even the most mundane, every day situations and turning them into a riot.

In a way, even the story of her success was somewhat amusing- it wasn't often that one turned up to an audition for a play, only to be laughed out of the theater- and right into success. She had been on some difficult times back then, and, desperate for money of any sort, decided to audition for a low-budget production of _The Tragedy of Ramjet, Prince of Vacuo,_ with an eye on the lead role, if she could secure it.

Between the fact that she had turned up without a copy of the script, without having ever _read_ the script, and with no foreknowledge of the story in any meaningful capacity... suffice to say, she had missed the main role.

The greatest miracle, in fact, was that she had been accepted into the play at _all._ As it happened, the production was _so_ low-budget, the troupe behind it so _desperate,_ that they decided that her wild, flailing performance would, at least, be good for comic relief- with a shortage of anybody showing up for auditions at all, she was eventually handed the role of Guild Stern, best friends with Rose Cratz, neither of whom were ever intended as serious roles in the first place. Or so the troupe had said- Nora hadn't bothered to research the intentions of a playwright who had been dead for over four hundred years.

The play itself was as catastrophic as one might expect- most of the acting was dull, the bits that weren't stood out for all the wrong reasons, and Nora was hardly alone in completely forgetting most of her lines. Any thoughts of putting the play on again were killed the instant reviews started coming out describing it as a train-wreck- "And let us be clear," these reviews had clarified, "this was _not_ a train wreck that one could stare at in morbid fascination- it was of that particularly ugly variety that one gives one passive glance before moving along with their day."

However, also according to the reviews, there had been one- solely _one-_ redeeming factor to the production- in the form of one Nora Valkyrie.

"While the interjections of the actress portraying Guild Stern rarely fit the tone of the rest of the play, that is ultimately for the best," quoth the articles. "While clearly improvised, her scenes, if taken out of context from the rest of the production, _almost_ made the show worth the price of admission."

And that was, indeed, how Nora Valkyrie would go on to make a name for herself in the world of entertainment- improvisation.

Not once did she ever go up on stage for a stand-up routine with any clear idea of what she'd actually be talking about. Not once did she start a song parody with clear lyrics in mind, or even any clear direction- ditto for the cartoon parodies she occasionally participated in. Even on the few occasions she'd taken a role in a movie, she'd gone without a script more often than not- it was often agreed by the rest of the productions that trying to get her to follow a script ruined the spontaneity that made her so humorous in the first place. Some actors may have found it stifling, being typecast in one particular type of role, but Nora embraced it- sure, she never had any major parts, like she may have dreamt of once, but the lack of script meant she had more control over the parts that she _did_ play, pretty much allowing her to play herself in each.

But stand-up was her favorite. Despite the butterflies in her stomach before her first show, it had gone splendidly, as she'd simply said anything that came to mind, and somehow managed to elicit roaring laughter from the crowds. Stories about anything from go-karting to butterfly tents to that one time she'd gotten lost in a particularly large department store always seemed to bring tears to people's eyes- and she loved every moment of it.

Things had been looking up even more today, as for the past few weeks, she'd been in contact with another duo of comedians, Flynt Coal and Neon Katt, who had made quite the name for themselves in the fields of stage magic, web content, and, sure enough, an acting role or two. Never was one seen without the other, and they produced enough content to rival Nora herself. Despite this, she found herself enjoying their shows immensely, and had been overjoyed when they came to her with the offer of doing a show together. The entertainment industry was already abuzz with word of this seeming match made in comedy heaven, and for Nora, it was a dream come true...

And then she heard her scroll ring at the end of filming for a DustTube comedy special.

XXXX

While the whole thing was being shot for DustTube, it was still being done on a stage, so Nora was expected only to act as she normally would for such a show- as such, she went out to applause to ramble on about hammers, chainsaws, the practical use of stern fathers in theaters of war, and the proliferation of Pop Tarts labels.

At long last, she brought the show to an end with, "Apparently, sloths don't actually appreciate coffee all that much," with a shy rub to the back of her neck before perking back up, giving her trademark beaming smile at the applause. "That'll be all for today- thank you all, see ya next time!"

A storm of applause followed her as she took her final laps around the stage (which she'd originally found an odd waste of time, but as her managers had encouraged her to do them after each show, she'd warmed up to the idea- she really _liked_ the limelight, as it turned out,) and ultimately ducked backstage, where she was met by her current manager, already clapping his hands together.

"Wonderful as always, Nora," he grinned, clapping a fatherly hand on her shoulder. Nora smiled back- of all the managers she had, this was her favorite. His actual name was Douglas Hart, he often went by Doug, and she called him Stache Man, not because he actually had a memorable moustache, but because of his inability to grow one. "Head on back and take a break- you've earned it."

"Thanks, Stache Man!" she chirped, heading down the hall a bit and ducking into the breakroom.

Needless to say, it would be in somewhat bad taste if she took her scroll on stage- it was bad enough if someone in the audience had a phone go off, what if the comedian did?- and thus left her scroll in the breakroom at all times. In the past, she _had_ needed it for a joke or two, and had thusly turned it off before bringing it out.

She glanced at the screen, and saw she had a missed call. Yeah, that happened sometimes, and it _was,_ after all, the reason she left it behind to begin with. Though, that wasn't a number she recognized...

She was on the verge of swiping it away when the scroll began to ring- the same number that had tried to call her up during the show. She still didn't recognize it, but she found that something was compelling her to answer...

Reasoning that, in the worst case scenario, she need only hang up, she tapped to take the call. "Hello?"

"Hello. Is this... is this Nora Valkyrie?"

Nora blinked- the voice sounded calm, steady, and bizarrely familiar for a number she distinctly _didn't_ remember. "Yeah, this is her- why, who's asking?"

A light chuckle sounded on the other end of the line. "It's great to hear your voice again, Nora. This is Lie Ren."

"Lie... Ren?" Nora allowed the name to roll on her tongue. "Lie... OHHHHHH, I remember now, good ol' Lie Re-"

And then it came back. _All_ of it came back.

The eyes. The teeth. The knife. The razor-sharp _claws,_ and those _lights..._

A moment later, her scroll was skidding across the floor as she made a mad dash to the bathroom, bending over the toilet and emptying the contents of her stomach into it.

Ren's voice continued to come from the scroll- she could very faintly hear concern in his voice. "Nora? Are you okay? Nora?"

Nora looked up, white-faced. Her brain had suddenly entered a hazy state in which her scroll seemed nearby and a hundred miles away all at once. Regardless of its actual distance, she reached out for it, muttering under her breath, "I'm okay... no, nope, I'm not..."

Followed by more vomiting into the porcelain bowl in front of her.

At long last, she stood, shaking as she brushed herself off, making her way to the sink, gripping its sides tightly as she briefly glanced in the mirror. Her face was whiter than it had been in years, and there were still traces of vomit around her mouth. Disgusted, she quickly bent over and splashed some water onto her face, wiping it clean, before turning back to her scroll, still putting Ren's soft voice into the room. "Nora? Talk to me, are you okay? Nora? Nora!"

Finally, moving slowly to ensure her legs continued supporting her weight, she made her way back to the scroll, picking it up and raising it to her ear. For a moment, she entertained the idea of hanging up right then and there, possibly with a vague lie about being a _different_ Nora Valkyrie, he must have the wrong number.

The idea disgusted her almost enough to go back to the toilet.

"I- I'm here, Ren."

"Oh, good," Ren gave a quick sigh of relief before returning to his more customary calm tones. "Thought I lost you for a second."

"No, no, just... had to take care of something real quick..."

Even over the phone, she could imagine those light pink eyes boring into her, far too perceptive to be fooled by such a half-hearted lie. "So... can I assume you remember?"

Nora gulped, throwing another glance at her white-faced reflection. "I... I guess so... more than I have... in a while..."

"How much?"

Nora ran a nervous tongue along her lips, stretching her mind back as far as it would go. "Vale... something happened in Vale... and you and I... and the others... we all promised..."

"Promised what?" Ren prompted quietly.

"To come back if... if something happened... I can't remember exactly, but..." It felt as though there was a block in her mind, keeping her from remembering what, exactly, the promise entailed, but retaining all the urgency behind it.

"That's enough for now," Ren spoke gently. "Pyrrha had trouble remembering, too. Don't push yourself too hard."

"You already called Pyrrha, then?" Nora asked with a weak smile on her face. "You're gonna make me jealous."

"You remember Pyrrha, then?"

Nora halted, blinking. The name had just come out so naturally, with no thought behind it until now, but now that he mentioned it, she did remember her old, red-headed friend- tall, but rather rotund, as children went, but with perhaps the greatest heart in the group. "Now that you mention it- seriously, _just_ now that you mention it... I do."

"Pyrrha said a lot of the same," Ren recalled. "Nora... I won't force you to come back if you don't want to. Not that there's much I could do anyways. But if you decide..."

"No," Nora shook her head, hearing the words almost as if a stranger were speaking them, "Don't worry about it, Renny, I'll come. I promised, after all. Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a thousand needles in my eye." As she spoke, she ran one finger over her heart, almost absentmindedly. "Besides, I can hardly let Pyrrha have you all to herself, can I?"

Ren chuckled. "Glad to hear it. I'm putting the meeting together at _A Simple Wok._ You remember that old noodle stand?"

"Kinda... we ate at it once or twice, didn't we?"

"That we did. It's a full restaurant now- seemed like as good a place as any to get the band back together. Shouldn't be too hard to find- just ask anyone to point the way."

"I'll be there," Nora promised, absentmindedly raising one hand into the air. "I... I'll be there. Just promise _me_ one thing in return?"

"Name it," Ren returned without a second of hesitation.

"Promise me you'll make us all a batch of your pancakes when we get there, alright?"

A light chuckle came back, before Ren finally responded. "But of course- it would hardly be a meeting of Team Loser without pancakes, would it?"

And just like that, another flood of memories came rushing back, all attached to that name- not unpleasant, at least, not all of them, but overwhelming enough that she half-consciously took another couple steps towards the bathroom. Nonetheless, out loud, she said, "Then I'll be there."

"Nora... thank you," came Ren's voice one final time, before the beeping tone indicating he had hung up.

For a long, long while, Nora stared absently at her scroll, half wondering if any of that had actually happened, or if she was just hallucinating after all the work of setting this special up. However, a quick glance at the palm of her right hand- and the thin scar etched into it- convinced her otherwise.

Remembering the special, however, reminded her also of her plans for the next few weeks- she was intended to meet up with Flynt Coal and Neon Katt for the greatest meeting of the minds in comedy history!

Quickly, she looked up their numbers on her scroll, pressing it back to her ear and anxiously waiting as it rang once, twice... thrice...

"Well, well, well, if it ain't Nora Valkyrie!" greeted the rather laid-back voice of Flynt Coal. "Hope you've got some good news coming our way-"

"Is that Nora?" came another voice, this time recognizable as Neon. "Oh- let me talk to her, let me talk- pleeaaase!"

"Actually, this is pretty important," Nora spoke up. "Maybe... maybe you should put me on speaker, so you can both hear."

She could almost imagine the quirk in Flynt's brow at this line, and the shrug with which he said, "Alright, you're on. Now, what's this all about?"

"I... I don't know how to..." As she spoke, her hand repeatedly clenched and unclenched around the scar in her palm.

"Are you alright, Nora? You're _never_ this nervous!" Neon's voice was brimming with concern.

Nora shook her head. "Alright, I'll get right to the point- I need to... delay our show a couple weeks."

Silence fell, finally broken by Flynt. "Delay it? Something going wrong, Nora?"

"It's... it's a long story." _And even I only remember bits and pieces..._ "I... I just have something I need to do."

"Someone in your family sick or something?"

Nora shook her head. "No, nothing like that." _Though it_ may _be a matter of life or death, if half my memories_ are _right..._ "I- an old friend just called. I'm heading to Vale for a week or two. After that, I'll be glad to come back and do the show."

"Who's this 'old friend' of yours?" Neon piped up. "Ohhh, a secret lover?"

"No, nothing like that!" Nora shook her head vehemently. Thankfully, the manner in which they were speaking perfectly concealed the blush spreading across her cheeks. "We're not... _together-_ together, in fact... in fact, this is the first time I've thought about him in thirty years."

The explanation had slipped out before she could stop it, and brought dead silence in its wake. "Thirty years?" Flynt finally broke it. "You're ditching us for some guy you ain't seen since high school?"

"I know it sounds stupid," Nora conceded. "But it's not just him- back then, we had a whole group of friends, and we got together and made a promise... a promise to go back. I know it sounds crazy-"

"More than," Neon concurred.

"-but I can't just break it. I _have_ to go back. To Vale."

Another silence, and Flynt spoke again, seemingly struggling to be the voice of reason. "Nora, I get that a lot of crap seems important when we're kids, but that's before we know _anything_ about _anything-_ even if it seemed important then, I'm sure, if you looked back now-"

"I get it," Nora interrupted. "I get what you're saying, and I think even I might have thought so half an hour ago... but I'm certain. This wasn't some silly kid promise- this was important. We swore, back then- we swore that no matter where we were, what we were doing... we would come back. I've been looking forward to this show as much as you, believe me- but I can _not_ just leave them out in the cold."

She allowed the firmness behind her words, unusual for one who was normally so jovial, to speak for themselves. After another long period of silence, she spoke one last time. "Two weeks. At the most. Just give me two weeks to find out what's going on and help deal with it. Then I'll come back, explain everything, and we'll do the show- I'll give it 240%."

At long, long last, Flynt spoke. "Alright, I getcha. We'll talk to our people, you to yours. We'll get this thing pushed back. But you best have a _damn_ good explanation when you get back, alright?"

"Promise _us_!" Neon piped up. "You take your promises so seriously, promise _us_ that you'll come back and tell us what's going on!"

"I promise," Nora agreed, giving a light smile.

"Two weeks," Flynt concluded. "I can guarantee you two weeks- past that, I'm not making any promises of my own."

At last, the call came to an end. Nora, satisfied with the results, turned back to her room, various thoughts and memories battling each other across her mind. There was darkness there, she knew, a lurking fear she'd been repressing for the better part of three decades... but there was warmth there, too, embodied by the faces of friends she had so nearly forgotten.

But then, superceding it all, came the memories of a clawed hand beneath menacing, heterochromic eyes.

 _Would you like some ice cream?_

She could practically hear the soft words being spoken into the silence, before everything was swallowed by a violent yellow light...

She dashed back to the toilet and proceeded to remain there for the next couple hours, body occasionally convulsing as more bile made its way up her throat and ultimately, into the water below.

 _XXXX_

More mixed feelings. Lots of questions of formatting with this story, given the sporadic nature of the original book and its adaptations. Well, without any strong objections, next chapter shall continue the trend, turning the focus to one Weiss Schnee. Until then, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	6. Weiss Schnee Takes Her Medicine (A)

Gamer4 in. Well, another large portion of the reason I started writing this was in the hope of greasing my writing gears a bit. Considering my usual writing schedule, I'd like to say I'm succeeding in that goal, if nothing else. In fairness, not much has actually _happened_ so far, but we'll see. As far as this chapter goes, a quick sidenote- as anyone who knows me could probably tell you, I'm a none-too-subtle White Rose shipper, but given the context of this story, certain sacrifices must be made. Ditto for a couple of the other ships I support in regards to this series, but que sera sera. That said, Weiss is probably my favorite character in Team RWBY, and possibly my favorite in general, right after Nora. Here's hoping to do her _some_ justice here. Let's dive in.

Disclaimer: This will be the day we've waited for, this will be the day we open up the door!

Chapter V

Weiss Schnee Takes Her Medicine

In the years to come, Neptune Vasilias began to truly feel that he should have realized, long in advance, that something was wrong.

Perhaps the thing keeping him from recognizing the incoming peril was the absolute banality of the rest of the day- as banal as it was to drive ambulances for the very hospital that his wife owned.

The gate out front had given no sign that anything was amiss, granted, but it still didn't stop him from wondering if there were any signs, any at all, of what was to come before he had seen the manor's front door hanging open.

That had been the first sign. Upon seeing this, he had quickened his pace, bursting into the building with no ceremony, calling out his wife's name. "Weiss?"

He darted back and forth across the lower floor, before finding her scroll laying, solitary and despondent, upon the kitchen floor. His heart rate increased. The nature of her job meant Weiss Schnee _never_ abandoned her scroll, and even if she did, the nature of who Weiss Schnee was meant she would never leave it on the floor. He picked it up, hugging it to his chest for a moment before continuing his run through the manor.

"Weiss? Is everything okay? Weiss? WEISS!"

At long last, to his great relief, he found her in the upstairs bathroom, still standing and seeming physically unharmed... but then he took a closer look, and realized that something was wrong.

XXXX

Weiss Schnee was a rather influential woman, potentially from the moment she was born. The Schnee family had a fortune and influence dating back at _least_ three generations, over which they had spread into practically every industry there was. Weiss, however, sought a different path- where her father had been quite relentless in grooming her to take over the company, she'd had something else in mind.

Sometimes, it blew Neptune away when he thought about it- the lengths that Weiss had gone to to _avoid_ her legacy. It would have been all too easy, in his mind, to just give in to her father's demands, to take over the company he'd maintained, and live wealthily ever after.

To the world, it may have seemed as though she had- at least at first. To much of public life, Weiss had seemed every bit the quiet, obedient daughter that Jacques Schnee liked to brag about at parties, giving her a hefty allowance as long as she continued to dance to his tune.

It was only a few years out of high school, however, that he had passed away, through means that had never quite gone public, though from what Neptune had managed to wring out of Weiss in subsequent years, it seemed likely he had passed away from a heart attack or something similar, which nobody nearby had been equipped well enough to handle.

Initially, the outcome of events seemed rather obvious- the 'keys to the kingdom,' so to speak, would go to his daughter, who had, after all, been raised from birth to carry the burden. The only problem was, the company wasn't something that held any further interest for Weiss. Instead, using her accumulated business acumen, she had struck a bargain with the higher-ups in the company- she would leave the company to them, no questions asked, so long as they followed a certain list of demands that was kept quiet from the general public. Whatever they were, however, the company apparently found it more than a fair exchange.

The first demand, it turned out, was that they foot the bill for her to attend college, where she turned away from business practices, and instead focused on the medical sciences. This, in point of fact, was where she'd met Neptune, who, at the time, had been an up-and-coming champion on the university's fighting team, alongside other front-runners such as Sun Wukong, Sage Ayana, and Scarlet David. Aptitude, however, turned out to not quite be destiny, as nothing had ever truly come of it- at least, not for Neptune.

Things had started off uncertain for them- it was very much to his surprise that Weiss approached him, asking him to one of the school's dances one early February. Over that time, they managed to forge a sort of partnership, which had eventually grown into friendship, and, eventually, into what Neptune could honestly say was love. He had gone from considering her just a name he'd heard in newspapers, often alongside that of her father or his company, to genuinely not being able to see himself with anyone else.

It had been with his support that Weiss truly began rising through the school, her reputation transforming from 'snooty-rich-girl who had everything handed to her on a platter' to 'one of the best students the university ever had.' And thus, it was to nobody's surprise when she went on to apply for a job at Signal Hospital- a hospital that, in a few years, she would own as well as serving as the most well-regarded doctor there. Neptune was proud of her, and often wished that his career had taken off in the same way- try as he might, he was only ever raised to the level of ambulance driver.

However, he never begrudged her for her success, and, in part to prove that, and in even greater part because he truly wanted to, he had, at long last, proposed to her.

At times, he had to wonder just how she'd made it all work- there so many points in her story where things had had the opportunity to go horribly, horribly wrong, yet at every step, she'd somehow managed to do or say just the right thing, or had just the right stroke of luck.

"What can I say?" she had once shrugged off, when he brought this up. "Sometimes, it just seems like I have a guardian angel." This had been followed by a light chuckle and a sip of the dark coffee that she seemed to have on her at almost all times.

Well, many a person still alive today would be thankful to that guardian angel, as Weiss's near perfect memory, remarkably steady hands, and her simple determination contributed to the salvation of what many other doctors had brushed aside as hopeless cases.

All of which built up a picture to many people, Neptune in particular, that Weiss was a confident, self-assured individual- enough to break away from the destiny laid out for her and seek her own path, and become one of the most famous doctors in Remnant.

This was _not_ the woman he found in the upstairs bathroom that night. The woman before him was glassy-eyed, listless, hardly seeming to notice him even when he appeared right next to her. In an almost robotic fashion, she was reaching up into the medicine cabinet in front of her, throwing one bottle of pills after another into a large bag on the counter beside her. A bag, he was slightly disturbed to see, that was already full to bursting with orange bottles of its own.

"Weiss... what's going on?"

Finally, she turned towards him, acknowledging his presence. Her eyes seemed to struggle to focus on him, and he noticed yet another disturbing detail.

Throughout all the time he'd known Weiss, she'd been surprisingly open with him, readily telling him all about her time under Jacques's thumb, her brief stint at the head of his company, and the time at college before they'd met. Only one subject had been left definitively off-limits- the origins of the thin scar that ran over her left eye. He'd attempted to guess before, sometimes jokingly and good-naturedly in an effort to get her to reveal just how she'd obtained it, but no matter what, she always responded by clamming up and refusing to speak until the subject was changed.

It hardly mattered anyways, he eventually began to reason. If the memory was something too painful for her to talk about, then he wouldn't force her, and besides, it had already been rather faded when he first met her, and only became less and less noticeable as time went on.

But now...

The scar stood out bright and red against her porcelain white face, looking almost as fresh, in his imagination, as the day she received it. If he hadn't known her, he might have thought her eye was actually bleeding- in fact, for a moment, he _did_ think that, until he realized it was simply the scar tissue, suddenly burning angrier than it had in years.

"What- what happened?" he forced out.

"Neptune?" she finally responded. "Ah- you're home."

"Yeah, I'm home- to find the front door open, your scroll on the ground, and you filling a giant bag with medicine- what happened?"

Weiss remained silent for a good, long while, before finally choking out, "I'm leaving, Neptune. Tonight."

Neptune froze. "Y-you're leaving?"

Weiss nodded. "Yes. I... I'm going on a trip. I don't know when I'll be back."

A chill seemed to enter Neptune's very bones, far harsher than the one he'd gotten a few years back when Weiss suggested installing a pool in the backyard. "Why? What happened?"

"I- I don't have much time to talk," Weiss shook her head, returning to her task of filling the bag with medicine. "I already have a limo coming- it'll be taking me to the airport."

"Can't you tell me _anything?_ " Neptune asked, on the verge of panic. "What's all this about? What has you so spooked?"

Weiss simply shook her head, refusing to speak as she continued the evacuation of the cabinet.

Finally, Neptune reduced himself to bargaining. "Look, if I make you some coffee, will you at least tell me _some_ of what's going on here? Please?"

Weiss paused again, and Neptune thought he had her- she loved coffee in general, and the coffee he made in particular. Even in her harshest times, he'd managed to cheer her up with a nice, hot mug.

"Alright," she agreed to his terms. "One cup of coffee, and then I'll go."

Neptune bit his lip, uncertain that he liked the sound of that- or the finality the words seemed to hold.

XXXX

About ten minutes later, Weiss made her way downstairs, clutching her medicine bag with much more strength than seemed to be strictly necessary. Neptune, as promised, presented her with a mug of her favorite coffee- a brand marked by a small pair of dark glasses and a cane. She accepted it, and took a quick sip. To his relief, her hands seemed a little less shaky after doing so- though they still weren't nearly as steady as the hands that had achieved her worldwide recognition.

"A friend called me earlier," she began without preamble. Neptune couldn't help smiling- _that_ was closer to the Weiss he knew- short, direct, to-the-point. "He lives in a town the next continent over- Vale. Ever heard of it?"

"Can't say I have," Neptune shook his head, glad to at least be getting some answers.

"One of the Schnee family homes was set up there, and that's where I spent a great deal of my childhood," Weiss recalled. "It doesn't seem like the kind of place that the head of the Schnee Dust Company would make home, but he made it work. I don't know what about the place appealed to him, only what appealed to me."

Another swig of coffee. "The odd thing is, I haven't thought about that place in so long... ever since I left. I remember... I remember a group of friends I had back then, but after we broke up, I didn't really have anyone else until I met you."

"Any exes I should be aware of?" Neptune asked, trying to inject a note of humor into the situation.

"No, no, nothing like that," Weiss waved the idea away. "At least, I... I don't think so... it was so long ago..." Her brow furrowed in a concerned sort of worry. "So much happened that summer..."

Neptune looked down, and noticed Weiss's left hand clenching and unclenching, almost absentmindedly. A dark suspicion rose inside of him. "Is that how you got your scar?"

"Scar?" Weiss asked, and subconsciously, her hand rushed up to her eye. "I- I..."

She was starting to clam up again- a fact she attempted to hide by going for some more coffee. Finally, she looked up at Neptune. "Do you think I'm too controlling?"

Neptune blinked. "I- what? Wha-where-?" Honestly, he didn't even know how to respond to that.

Weiss looked back into the coffee. "When my friend called just now, I remembered so much... so _much_ of my childhood I'd just _forgotten_ about. And I remembered a lot about my father... he tried to include himself in every part of my life, tried to control every last aspect... I remember being afraid that if I followed the same path he did, I'd end up just like that... forcing everyone I knew to rely on me, and me alone..."

Neptune truly had no idea what to say. "I... well, I'd call you self-assured, confident... I'm not sure I'd say _controlling,_ though- except in all the right places." Another effort to lighten the mood, complete with eyebrow-wiggle, but Weiss seemed to shake it off again.

"How could I have forgotten so _much?_ " she wondered out loud into her coffee, seemingly struggling to give voice to the myriad thoughts and emotions swirling around inside her like a typhoon. "Even... even _Ruby..._ "

"Ruby?" Neptune wondered, causing Weiss's head to snap back up, eyes wider than before.

"I- I have to go." She stood up quickly, downing the rest of her coffee in a few quick gulps before hoisting her bag over her shoulder.

"Weiss, wait! I still don't understand!" Neptune objected. "Why do you need to go to Vale!"

"A promise!" Weiss called back as she made her way for the door. "I made a promise back then, and now it's time to fulfill it!"

"What about the hospital?"

"If I haven't trained and chosen those dunces well enough to function without me, then me staying behind won't change anything," Weiss brushed the criticism aside. Neptune had mixed feelings- that statement was _much_ closer to the Weiss he knew, but it still saw her growing rapidly more distant.

"Do you have any appointments coming up?"

"Nothing that the others can't handle- _this_ is more important!"

Finally, Neptune came out with what he was really thinking. "And what about _me?_ "

Weiss froze at the threshold, where Neptune could already see a limousine pulling up in the driveway. "What will _I_ do without you?" he asked, nerves etched into every inch of his face.

Weiss stood there for a long moment, looking right back into his eyes. "You can function without me for a week or two, can't you?"

"I... I suppose..."

Weiss drew slightly closer to him. "That was my father's greatest sin- making me too dependent on him, to the point I thought I'd die if he turned his back on me for too long. I _never_ wanted to make anyone else feel that way- that they were that dependent on me. Please... if I haven't become my father, now is the time to show me. For just the next week or two, carry on."

"It'll be tough," Neptune replied quietly.

It was an odd scene- in most films, it might be marked by Weiss tilting Neptune's head up towards hers, with the complication, of course, that Neptune stood about a foot and a half taller than her, leading to her having to stand on tip-toe to even meet him eye-to-eye. "Show me I've broken the Schnee curse. Please... show me..."

Neptune's eyes widened as he realized she was kissing him gently. By the time he'd come to terms with that, he realized she was already halfway to the limo.

"Just a couple weeks?" he called out after her, starting to grow desperate.

"At the most!" Weiss called back a promise before ducking into the limo.

Neptune hoped that was true. It was no secret to anyone that Weiss was really the head of the household, but more than that, she seemed to provide something to him that he lacked- she really was, true to the spirit of the phrase, his better half.

And somewhere in his mind's eye, perhaps due to the stress of the night since he'd gotten home, perhaps to the haunted look on Weiss's face even as she described her old friends, or perhaps due to something else entirely, he couldn't shake the feeling that it was less of a limousine she was climbing into, and more of a hearse.

 _XXXX_

Probably the chapter I have the most mixed feelings about yet. I may be busy tomorrow, we'll see about getting a new chapter up- probably depends on my Mountain Dew supply. Then again, I'm not looking forward to the next chapter in general, despite my general love for the character of Jaune Arc... anyways, until then, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	7. Jaune Arc Learns a Lesson (A)

Gamer4 in. ...Before this chapter went up, this story's wordcount included the number 666. _Just_ to give you an idea of where we are now, and where we're headed. ... I'd normally try to say something witty here, but really, that little factoid says it all. Let's just move along.

Disclaimer: Don't wanna hear about your absolution. Hope you're ready for a revolution!

Chapter VI

Jaune Arc Learns a Lesson

Emerald Sustrai was already not in the best of moods the night the phone rang.

It was already a surprisingly warm night for November, leading to her feeling rather pasted to her sheets and blankets by a layer of sweat. An invisible wall seemed to separate her from her boyfriend, Jaune Arc, which only seemed to grow more pronounced when he stood up, muttering quietly, "Don't worry about it, Em. I'll go get it."

She valued her sleep, she really did. Anything that kept her from a good night's rest agitated her, drove her to anger, and eventually found release in Jaune Arc- one way or another. Phones ringing as she was attempting to sleep was something that was particularly likely to raise her ire- who felt the need to call this late anyways? And why did Jaune feel the need to answer it?

A cold hand seemed to clench over her heart as another thought occurred to her- was he, in fact, seeing someone else behind her back?

She quickly turned over to see Jaune stretching after standing up out of bed. He stood tall, with short length of scruffy blond hair falling around his face and his blue eyes. Additionally, a scruffy amount of beard had begun to form around the edges of his face- only kept at bay by repeated shavings, though, at her request, he'd foregone shaving for the past couple days.

"Just a little bit," she'd reasoned. "Just the right amount of handsome to sell your work to the world."

"I'm not sure," he'd argued back then, uncertainty in those blue crystals of his as he ran a hand up and down the side of his face. "It can kind of get in the way at times, to be honest."

He'd eventually conceded- after she had taught him a quick lesson.

"Something wrong, Em?" he asked, noticing her gaze.

"Expecting someone?" Emerald asked, unable to keep a note of accusation out of her voice- a note of accusation that Jaune didn't seem to notice.

"No one in particular," he shrugged, moving towards the door. "But hey, if someone calls you up in the middle of the night, it has to be important, right?"

He gave a small smile, doing nothing to move the cold hand that had so suddenly appeared in Emerald's chest as she watched her boyfriend of several years now open the door and close it softly behind him.

XXXX

Jaune shook his head gently as he did, before turning to the hall. It was pleasantly cool out here, for what was otherwise such a warm night. Perhaps he'd needed a moment away from Emerald- there was an air of hostility in the room that he didn't like- an air that generally ended with one of her lessons.

Another, slightly more forceful shake of his head, and he was off down the hallway towards the still-ringing phone.

Finally, he located it and wasted no time pressing it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Arc? Jaune Arc?" asked the voice on the other end, familiar yet simultaneously alien.

"Yeah, yeah... that's me."

The voice paused for a moment, as though thinking something over. "Hello?" Jaune prompted.

Finally, the voice came back. "It's good to hear your voice again, Jaune. That said, you might want to sit down before you hear what I have to say..."

XXXX

Emerald was less than certain exactly where Jaune had actually come from- even less certain than he seemed to be himself. There was an odd sort of emptiness in his eyes that seemed to arise whenever she delved too far into his past- as though he wasn't _trying_ to keep anything from her, but even _he_ wasn't entirely certain what the truth was.

The first time she'd met him had been at the Atlas Academy of the Sciences- located in the kingdom whose name it bore- where he'd been working hard to maintain his presence at the school at all, let alone studying what he professed to be his true passion- architecture.

Some of the buildings Jaune had designed in the years since had been truly beautiful constructions- museums and historical societies seemed to be his favorite, but there were quite a few houses and hotels with his name on the blueprints as well. Rumor had it that even the manor home of one of the richest women in Remnant, Weiss Schnee, had been designed by him- an idea that infuriated Emerald to no end.

Even their own home was a product of his surprising ingenue- surprising when one considered the almost absent-minded personality he demonstrated most of the time. Or... perhaps not _absentminded-_ more like his brain was so often elsewhere, perhaps already scheming what the next building would look like, or trying, once more, to delve into his own past.

Emerald had initially joined up with him as something of a business partner- it had taken her approximately ten seconds to realize that this man had a brilliant mind in some ways, but in others- particularly business management- he had roughly the same skill as toothpaste. That had been their initial deal- he kept being brilliant, and she would, in essence, talk him through all the legal and business-related things that came with the profession.

Somewhere along the line, however, she'd found herself falling for him- there was a certain innocence and naivety to him that was oddly endearing. She had initially tried dropping hints, but Jaune, as he was, hardly seemed to notice them, lost as he was in his own little world, producing building after building.

Finally, she had advanced with an outright proposal- which he had refused, acknowledging her points that it may, in an odd sort of way, help their rapidly-growing venture, but at the same time, he simply didn't know her well enough on a personal level to commit to something like that. However, since then, they _had_ been living together, practically wed in all but technicalities- as Emerald would never fail to remind him if she thought she saw him spying other women out of the corner of his eyes.

This, then, may further contribute to her anger tonight- they were currently at the start of yet another deal, this time with the Kingdom of Vacuo to construct a museum dedicated to their history. Innocent enough, until Emerald saw with her own eyes those that she was expected to work with for the next several months- Nebula Violette and Dew Gale, the central minds behind the museum, who would be having a great deal of contact with Jaune- _her_ Jaune- until the completion of the project.

Abruptly, she was jerked out of her reverie by a thump elsewhere in the house, with only one possible cause. In a moment, she was on her feet and down the hall to see Jaune, white-faced and seemingly somewhat panicked, darting down the hall with a large suitcase. "Hi, Em, bye, Em!" he belted out as he charged past her with the suitcase slung almost carelessly over his shoulder before she could even realize what was happening. For a moment, she stood frozen in shock, before turning back around, anger in her dark-red eyes. She did _not_ take kindly to being brushed aside- especially by the man who ought to have eyes only for her.

She turned and followed him back into the bedroom, where he was dashing around, throwing one article of clothing after another into the suitcase. "Yeah, sure, that looks good... yeah, that'll work- nah, I can leave that one behind..."

"What is going on?" she asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Her anger grew when Jaune didn't turn to look at her as he delivered his response- "Call from a friend- I have to go, Em, I'm heading out of town for a week or two- should be back by-"

He staggered when he turned to reach for another closet, only to be met with a strong right cross to his face. Shocked, he fell backwards onto the bed, where he saw Emerald approaching, fury etched into her face. "A _friend,_ hm? And just who might this _friend_ be, Jaune?"

Jaune stared at her for a moment. "Em- Em, it's really not like that. It was a long time ago- we all got together and made a-"

"Shut up," Emerald snarled. "You think I'll just stand aside and let you go to Vacuo with your little-"

"I'm not _going_ to Vacuo!" Jaune piped up, starting to sweat, desperate to explain. "I'm going to another kingdom- to a town called Vale!"

Emerald, however, only seemed to get angrier. "Don't interrupt me," she seemed to growl. "Are you forgetting your place?"

"No!" Jaune shook his head fervently.

Emerald's eyes narrowed. "I think you have. I really don't appreciate what you're trying to do to me here, Jaune- ducking out on me right as we're about to start a project."

"It's not like that!"

Emerald ignored him, advancing to a closet where she produced the belt that allowed her to administer her lessons. "Do I need to remind you, Jaune? Do I need to remind you who you belong to?"

"No..."

"What?" Emerald asked, turning to Jaune, whose head was currently bowed, seemingly in defeat.

"I said... no!" Jaune leapt to his feet and pushed past her into the hallway.

Emerald turned, more furious now than ever, advancing towards him. "Come back and take it like a man, Jaune- it'll be easier on you if you do."

Jaune continued backing away down the hall, but it was fear in his eyes anymore- it was anger. "I'm done, Em- I'm tired of your lessons, tired of being your whipping boy every time something doesn't go you way." As he spoke, he remembered a few particularly harsh welts that had taken a great deal of time to heal- one was still stinging right next to his left shoulder.

"You take it now, it'll heal in a couple days this time, instead of a couple weeks," Emerald snarled.

Jaune stepped into the kitchen, reaching for the first thing he could find to defend himself- a nearby coffee maker- half filled with coffee he'd been planning on taking a drink of before leaving. "Not now, not _ever_!" he shouted, seizing the handle and winging it as hard as he could.

Contrary to most movies and tv shows, the glass did not break when it made contact with Emerald's skull- which meant the cracking noise that _was_ made upon contact must have been something else. It didn't stop the hot coffee from spilling onto her as she and it both tumbled to the ground, however.

The ferocity that had momentarily awoken in Jaune abruptly faded- he crossed the threshold, quickly ducking over to where Emerald lay. To his immense relief, she was still breathing- though just barely conscious.

"Jaune..." she grumbled, glaring up at him.

There was a mixture of sorrow and defiance in him as he glared down at her- sorrow because he was still certain he'd seen something redeemable in her before, something to be salvaged, despite all she did to him. Defiance in that he knew that every effort had failed anyways- and he'd always paid the cost. But it wasn't just about him anymore.

"We're done," he spoke as softly as he could under the circumstances. "Our work together- done. Our relationship- done. I'm going to Vale to meet with my friends, and if you stand between us- keep me from helping them- I _will_ kill you."

A swift kick, backed up by the last of the ferocity he had left, and she was well and truly unconscious.

A quick check confirmed she was still alive, then upstairs he went, seizing his suitcase. There weren't many clothes in it, but they'd have to do- where he was going, there were far worse things to concern himself over. He snatched his wallet and scroll from their location on the nightstand, using the latter as he rushed back downstairs and out the front door to call the nearby hospital and give them a rough idea of Emerald's condition- despite all she'd done, he couldn't just leave her there.

A moment later, the suitcase was in the trunk of a car, he was in the driver's seat, and tearing off towards the nearest airport, on his way to a now truly uncertain future.

 _XXXX_

I honestly have no idea what to say down here- a rather difficult chapter to write, in more ways than one. At least I didn't make it among the worst things I've ever written by throwing in a _Shining_ reference for good measure- that was actually going to happen at one point. Still would've been better than _There Will Be Claws-_ though nothing I write will _ever_ be worse than that. Anyways, the next chapter ought to be a little easier, as we finally get back to Yang. Until then, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	8. Yang Xiao Long Takes a Vacation (A)

Gamer4 in. ...That is a _big_ moth. Like, _easily_ the size of the moth on the poster for _Silence of the Lambs._ Ah, well, let's go ahead, pretend we never saw that, and dive right in.

Disclaimer: Welcome to the world of new solutions- welcome to the world of bloody evolution!

Chapter VII

Yang Xiao Long Takes a Vacation

The unthinkable had happened- Yang Xiao Long was... afraid.

Scarlet David knew _he_ could hardly believe it- Yang was, without a doubt, one of the bravest people he knew, meeting even the darkest times and most impossible odds with a sunny smile and, more often than not, a bad pun.

Not now- her eyes were wide, a lip was between her front teeth, and she was _shaking._

"You _what?"_ he asked, befuddled beyond belief.

"I-I-I..." Yang shook her head for a moment. "I need to d-d-d-duck out a little earlier than I th-th-th...thought," she finally forced out, leaving Scarlet more dumbstruck than before.

"You're running out _now?_ " he couldn't help but ask. "Right in the middle of filming?"

"Not for g-good," Yang clarified, shaking her head again. "Just for a w-week or t-two."

Scarlet froze, staring, with no idea what to say.

Yang Xiao Long, nowadays, was one of the most well-known actresses across the world, starring in action movies, sci-fi flicks, and a few horror films, whenever she felt so inclined. Unbeknownst to all but a few, however, she also often had a hand in screenplay and direction- unbeknownst, most likely, because any input she had was concealed behind the alias of Citrine Branwen. Even Yang didn't seem to be certain why she was so secretive over her input.

Her greatest hit in the past few years had been _Outsiders: Death Pact,_ taking place in a future where humanity left Remnant and began to colonize other planets. One colony accidentally settled on an asteroid where a ship had crashed, containing several alien eggs, which, when tampered with, unleashed their might on the unwitting colonists.

Yang's role in the movie had been as a sort of an advisor to a military squad sent in to deal with the threat, who, throughout the course of the movie, came to be the greatest force against the creatures, all while befriending a small girl whose parents had been lost in the initial attack, and was then forced to survive on her own until the cavalry arrived.

This last detail was Yang's greatest contribution to the film, in her eyes- the relationship between her character and the small girl had all been the idea of 'Citrine Branwen,' and, now that she thought back, realizing now what she hadn't then, she thought she might have an idea of why she had come up with the alias in the first place- to hide, even from herself, that she was writing in her sister, lost almost thirty years ago now, and allowing herself to succeed this time in what she hadn't managed then- in protecting her.

This also happened to be when she'd met Scarlet, who had also been working on the film, both as a behind-the-scenes contributor to the script and storyboard, and as the actor for a relatively minor character in the film. Definitely not the main love interest, or anything of that character, though, if Yang were to remove her own bias towards the character _she'd_ portrayed and the character she'd written in, she'd probably say that Scarlet's character was her favorite. She didn't even remember his name- just one of his lines- "Game over, man, game over!" Pure gold. Too bad he had to get taken by the monsters in the end.

Nevertheless, that was the film that had first brought them together, and it had been a smash hit, instantly being ranked among the best action, sci-fi _and_ horror movies, all in one. It had been enough that when later films brought the two together again, Yang had been only all too glad to work alongside him, then again... and again... and again. Each film that they made together always seemed to end up blowing people away- though not always necessarily to the level that _Outsiders_ had. Over their work on these films, they had developed a surprisingly close relationship, and while nothing was set in stone _quite_ yet, they _had_ moved in together, first when they were collaborating on other movies, and eventually full time.

They were currently in the midst of yet another film project- an adaptation of the _Woman of Reverence_ comic book series, starring Yang as the title character who was taken from an island of amazons by Scarlet's character to help fight in the War for Remnant, putting a fantastic spin on a real-life event.

When Yang had heard the basic premise, she couldn't help but laugh. "Seems a little more like Pyrrha Nikos's thing, don't you think?" she recalled asking.

"You make it sound like you know her," Scarlet had commented.

"We've met," Yang had answered truthfully. "I've sent her a copy of a couple of my movies before."

Regardless, they had both thrown themselves into this project, as this time around, they had more control than they'd ever had before. Everything seemed to be going well...

Until the night of the phone call.

XXXX

Prior to the call, Yang had been absentmindedly throwing a tennis ball around her room, struggling with a bad case of writer's block- she had a good idea of where the story was going, but no idea how to actually get there. She had been distracted when Scarlet peeked his head in- "Dinner's ready. Has been. For a while now."

"I'm thinking," Yang repeated what she'd said before, throwing the ball up in a high arch before snatching it back out of the air.

"And have been for about an hour now," Scarlet pointed out, a much better response than his 'Well, _that's_ dangerous' of half an hour ago. "Come on, we can talk it over over dinner."

Yang sighed, then leapt to her feet. "Hup!" She turned to flash him a glowing smile. "Alright, on my way."

But before she could even reach the bottom of the stairs, her scroll began to ring.

"That you?" Scarlet called out from their dining room.

"Yeah, don't worry about it!" he, in turn, heard her call back.

And he didn't- he just sighed and began to pace around the kitchen. Yang was a wonderful woman, but he swore she had ADD at times- both a blessing and a curse in their profession. If there was anything he ever criticized in her writing, it was her tendency to jump from one topic to another without any real connecting line of thought- a tendency that she seemed to carry into just about every other aspect of her life.

He was eventually distracted by the sound of something clattering to the ground. Concerned, he ducked into the hallway. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

Yang was standing there, frozen. He ducked in front of her to see her eyes wide and staring, skin bleached white with some sort of bizarre terror- terror that was completely alien to her face.

At long last, she seemed to notice him standing in front of her. "I...I..."

Slowly, she bent down and picked up the scroll that seemed to have caused the noise in the first place. "I... I need some fresh air," she finally offered as a half-hearted explanation, before ducking out the front door, already bringing the scroll back up to her ear.

Scarlet watched her go with a remarkably uneasy feeling rising in his stomach. He didn't know what this call was about, but it had to be quite something to bring such dread to _Yang's_ face.

After what seemed like an eternity, the door creaked open and Yang stepped back in. Scarlet wasted no time- "Who was that?"

Yang remained silent, hardly giving any sign she'd heard him as she entered the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, grabbed a beer, and began to chug. The entire bottle was empty within seconds, whereupon she grabbed another before turning back to him. "Scarlet, I... I have to go."

Scarlet's jaw dropped. "You _what_?"

"I-I-I-" Yang shook her head for a moment. "I need to d-d-d-duck out a little earlier than I th-th-th... thought."

Scarlet hardly had any idea what to say- since when did _Yang stutter?_

Finally, he spoke the only words that came to mind- "You're running out _now?_ Right in the middle of filming?"

"Not for g-good," Yang shook her head. "Just for a w-week or t-two."

Scarlet was awestruck, uncertain what to say. "Why? Yang, what's wrong? Who was that?"

Yang threw her head back and downed about half of her second bottle. "That was an old friend- from Vale."

Scarlet blinked- Yang had mentioned Vale before, as little more than a town where she'd grown up. "And- and he needs help with something?"

"Basically..." Yang nodded, head bobbing a little. "Scarlet... how m-much have I told you about V-V-Vale?"

"A bit," Scarlet recalled. "Just that you grew up there, but ended up leaving when-" he stopped himself in his tracks, raising a hand to his mouth to keep the next phrase from leaving.

"When?" Yang prompted, looking up at him almost listlessly. "Don't worry- just say it."

"When your sister died," Scarlet finished his sentence. "Ruby- when Ruby died."

Despite her claim, Yang closed her eyes, as if in pain, before asking, "And did I ever t-tell you _how_ she d-d-died?"

Scarlet thought for a long moment, but ultimately had to shake his head, unprepared for what he was about to hear.

"She was murdered." Yang slammed the beer bottle into the table, and for a moment, a hint of red seemed to enter her usual blue eyes. "She went out to play in the rain one day, and never came back- never... never..."

Her momentary burst of fire faded, her eyes returning to their previous glassy state as she stared at the table. "It took a year after that before D-Dad and I moved out- every day, I swore I could hear her r-r-running up the driveway. Every day, I k-kept hoping that the front door would open, she'd come d-d-dashing in... and it would all be a b-bad dream..."

"I- I'm so sorry, Yang," Scarlet gently lowered his hand to cover hers. "I really am, I'm so, so sorry."

"That's when I... I first st-started st-st-stammering," Yang recalled, pulling off a couple more even as she explained. "I d-don't know how it w-works, but... when I f-f-first realized she... she w-w-wasn't coming back, it started g-g-getting harder and harder to t-t-t-talk. I started s-s-seeing a therapist, and he t-t-tried talking me through it, but I don't think even _he_ really knew what was g-g-going on."

"But you haven't stammered in all the time _I've_ known you," Scarlet pointed out.

The corner of Yang's mouth twitched. "N-n-no, I haven't," she acknowledged. "Until now, I'd forgotten all about it- _all_ of it. M-m-my st-stutter... the murder... _R-R-R-Ruby_..."

"No!" Scarlet interjected. "You never forgot about Ruby- you told _me_ about her!"

"I t-told you a n-n-name," Yang shook her head. "I d-d-don't think I actually c-c-connected anything t-to it. S-so much of that year is g-gone... and when I got that c-call, it all came r-rushing back."

"I don't understand." Scarlet stared at her, struggling to wrap his head around everything he was being told. "Please, Yang- I don't understand."

"N-neither do I," Yang shook her head. "So m-much of it all is in p-p-pieces... but I remember th-this much. I had a g-g-group of f-friends back then, and we p-promised, at the end of that summer, to go b-back. If it all st-st-started again, we'd go back."

"If _what_ started? You're not making any sense!" Scarlet objected.

"I only h-half remember myself," Yang admitted. "B-but this is important. I _h-have_ to g-go. I _have_ to m-meet them. I _have_ to remember."

A low silence descended on the table. Slowly, Yang raised a hand and placed it, palm up, on the table. "Look," she commanded.

Scarlet looked. Etched into the palm of Yang's hand was something he didn't remember there. Granted, of course, it wasn't like he made a habit of memorizing the palms of everyone he knew, but he felt very strongly that if there had been anything out of the ordinary about it, he'd remember- at least when it came to the most important person in his life. Never did he recall seeing anything unusual in any of Yang's features, and yet, here it was, plain as day- a thin, white scar, running from the webbing between Yang's thumb and forefinger, stretching all the way across to just beneath her pinky.

"What- I..."

"I s-swear to Dust that wasn't there b-before," Yang affirmed, closing her hand and pulling it back. "I s-swear it only came back once I remembered getting it."

"That's impossible!" Scarlet pointed out, though a part of him _did_ strongly feel that if he were to go through every appearance Yang made on film, and closely examine every shot the palm of her hand appeared, that it would be completely clean and unblemished.

"I'd have said so, t-too," Yang nodded. "B-but I'm certain that it's t-true. It wasn't until the c-call that I remembered. It was t-to mark the p-promise- Blake found a shard of g-glass, brought it b-back... and we all c-cut our hands. One by one. A b-blood promise- to come back."

For a long while, the two of them stared at each other. "I w-won't ask you to understand," Yang finally spoke up. "I d-don't _expect_ you to understand. But I have to g-go. For m-myself, for them, for R-R-R-Ruby... I _have_ to go."

She was on the point of leaving the dining room again when Scarlet jumped to his feet. "Then I'm coming with you."

Yang spun around. "W-what?"

"Whatever this is, it clearly means a lot to you, it sounds like you'll need all the support you can get. I'll come with y-"

He didn't even have the words out of his mouth before Yang cut him off, seizing his shoulders, her eyes now fully blood-red. "Don't say that!" she yelled. "Don't! No- stay away from Vale! I can't... I can't let anyone else- I won't..."

Realizing how hard she'd been shaking him, she let go, backed slowly away, and finally collapsed into a chair. "That p-place... it's not r-r-right. We'll be okay- w-we're already involved. B-but we c-can't let anyone else g-get c-c-caught up in all this. Not after wh-what it's already done to us... no... we can't..."

She looked back up at him, hints of red in her irises, but she was still in control. "Promise me, Scarlet. Promise me that you'll let me go- and that you won't follow me."

Scarlet didn't know what it was- the firmness in her voice, the severe whiplashes in mood throughout the night ever since that call, or something within Yang's words themselves... but he finally nodded. "Alright. I won't go to Vale."

"Thank you." Yang gave the faintest of smiles as she rose to her feet and gave him one of her customary bear hugs. "Thank you... so much."

She finally pulled away, allowing him to see the haunted look in her eyes. "I... I'll be l-leaving tonight," she said. "I'll t-take B-Bumblebee and head t-to the a-airport. The s-sooner I g-get back, the b-better."

"You can hold up for another half hour or so," Scarlet interjected.

Yang sighed. "N-no, Scarlet, don't t-try to st-stop me-"

"I'm not trying to stop you," Scarlet cut her off. "It's just- you still haven't eaten dinner."

Yang blinked, glancing at the table, still set up for the evening meal. "It'll probably be stone cold by now," Scarlet continued, "but it's better than nothing."

Yang gave the faintest of smiles, and for that moment, Scarlet thought he saw the old Yang peeking through. "Yeah... I g-guess that couldn't h-hurt," she acknowledged, sitting back down at the table.

Nonetheless, neither of them spoke throughout the meal, exchanging nothing more than one final bear hug before Yang headed out the door, fired up her motorcycle, and took off into the night, leaving Scarlet to watch her go with worry in his heart.

 _XXXX_

Probably the oddest ship I've gotten involved in this story- especially since, once again, I generally lean more towards Bumbleby, if not quite as much as White Rose. That said, feeling a little better after this chapter than the last- especially since I may not have ready access to my computer for the next couple days. Given how close we are to the end of the phone calls, here's hoping to another rapid update, as we finally get to the one you've all been waiting for- unless you haven't- Blake Belladonna. Until then, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	9. Blake Belladonna Takes a Bath (A)

Gamer4 in. Well... this should be fun. At the very least, I'm finally writing for a ship I somewhat support- Eclipse isn't my biggest one (I've already pointed out my inclination towards Bumbleby,) but I can at least see it. At any rate, let's... let's get right to it.

Disclaimer: In time, your heart will open minds. Your story will be told. And victory is in a simple soul!

Chapter VIII

Blake Belladonna Takes a Bath

"I-I think I'll take a bath."

Sun Wukong blinked in surprise at his wife's proclamation. "A bath?"

Blake Belladonna gave a quick nod, not meeting his eyes. "Yeah- I'll just go get it started. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"I mean... of course not, but..." Sun trailed off, uncertain what to say. It wasn't that there was anything _wrong_ with it, it was just... unusual.

Blake wasn't exactly known for a love of baths. She was, after all, a cat faunus. In fairness, the exact relation between a faunus and the animals whose characteristics they shared had yet to be fully understood, but Blake was easily the most catlike cat faunus _Sun_ had ever met. She liked tuna, milk was her favorite drink, she could practically become invisible at will, and she generally _despised_ baths.

Blake ignored him. "Don't wait up," she muttered quietly, before heading up the stairs, leaving him standing in front of the tv, where one of the latest Nora Valkyrie stand-up specials was currently playing.

Sun thought back, trying to recall anything that might have prompted this sudden change. Blake had actually seemed rather happy throughout most of that day, especially compared to some of her moodier days.

It had been abundantly clear to Sun almost from the moment he had met Blake that she was somehow... damaged. He hated to use the word in regards to a woman he cared so deeply for, but there was hardly any other way to put it- he had only needed to catch a glimpse of her to realize that there was a shadow lurking behind her eyes, a dark cloud that seemed to hang over her on the sunniest of days. The funny thing about it- if not truly humorous- was that Blake herself seemed to be the most oblivious about it- if asked any pressing questions about what was haunting her, she seemed to shake it off with a proclamation that she was perfectly happy, thanks for asking.

And she'd certainly earned the right to happiness. She had been a furiously hard worker as long as Sun had known her, and presumably for a long time before that as well. In the old college days, she'd hardly ever had time for playing around, an attitude that would eventually pay off when she formed, practically from the bottom up, one of the fastest growing businesses in Remnant, starting from nothing before swiftly rising to become one of the few genuine rivals to the Schnee Dust Company. Perhaps the fact that said company was on hard times itself since the Schnees released its reins had something to do with it as well, but either way, the fact remained that Blake's company, Black Plateau, had become a force to be reckoned with in the business world.

Looking back over it all, Sun was consistently surprised- it seemed Blake always managed to be in just the right places at all the right times to expedite her success. Every investment made, every bargain or deal struck, every merger proposed or accepted always seemed to fall right into her favor. When Sun looked back on it all and asked her just how she'd been so fortunate, she'd shrug it off.

"It just seemed like the right thing to do."

Initially, he had thought that her faunus heritage might have something to do with the shadow- she was hardly ever silent on the subject of faunus issues, making no secret that they were very close to her heart, even before she'd finally discontinued the use of her trademark bow. For several years, she'd kept the cat ears above her head hidden from her colleagues, her employees, and her rivals alike in fear that they'd affect how she was seen. By the time her name was appearing on lists of the richest women in Remnant, she finally saw fit to remove it and never don it again, prompting... very little change.

The only major change that had occurred with the removal of the bow was that she'd become much more open in her support of faunus, sinking more of her significant funds than before into programs such as hospitals, training programs, and general support for poor faunus. As time marched along, and the issue of race became less and less relevant, she'd expanded these programs to anyone who was unfortunate and in need of the extra help.

There _was_ another side to her, however. It was a side that Sun was generally the most privy to- nowadays, it was mostly only him that still noticed the continued presence of that shadow. And still, after all this time, she remained silent, to the extent that Sun wasn't sure whether she was trying to dodge around the issue or if she genuinely had no idea what he was talking about.

There had been plenty of nights that he'd caught her tossing and turning in bed, as if plagued by intense nightmares- nightmares that she would always deny when morning rolled around. While there _were_ plenty of days that she managed to don a full smile and seem to leave whatever was haunting her behind, there were innumerable other days that she seemed to walk skittishly around the house, jumping at the slightest noise, eyes darting nervously from side to side, only to immediately deny it all if confronted with her odd behavior.

Most memorably, at least to Sun, was a particularly odd night one August, only a couple years before the night of the call- and the bath that followed. It had been a particularly hot night, plastering Sun to his sheets with sweat. He had been unable to sleep, and had ultimately decided to take a shower in the hopes of cleaning himself off, cooling himself down, and generally being more ready to sleep by the time he returned to their bed.

It had been upon his return that he found Blake tossing at turning again, muttering incoherent phrases under her breath. He had immediately moved to wake her, first gently, then violently shaking her side.

Rather than truly waking up, however, she had seemingly entered an almost trance-like state. Her eyes were open, but she failed to acknowledge his presence, even when he waved a hand in front of her. Desperate, he'd asked what was wrong, what were her nightmares about. A moment later, she had snapped out of the trance, returning to full consciousness- and returning to her denials that there had been any nightmares to begin with. But before she did, she had uttered a single sentence- a phrase that boggled Sun then, and that he was still struggling to understand two years later.

"Ozpin couldn't save us."

Four simple words, and Sun had absolutely no idea what they meant. He didn't even know where to start. Perhaps, to begin with, he had never heard the word 'Ozpin' before, and had no idea who or what it referred to. The next day, as Blake still retained her lucidity, he had asked her straight out what the sentence meant. Not only did she deny having ever said such a thing, she didn't seem to know who or what 'Ozpin' was either. On this occasion, Sun was certain of her honesty- there was a level of confusion in her eyes when he brought up the incident that simply didn't seem like her to fake.

Perhaps he'd have thought on it more, but another discussion had followed that night, one that had completely driven the previous night's incident from his mind.

He had arrived home that night to find Blake crying in their room. He had immediately lain down next to her and asked, "What's wrong?"

She had wordlessly pointed to an envelope on the bedside table. Opening it, he'd found a message from Blake's doctor, informing her that the results of her tests were in... and she was still not pregnant.

His response had been to cast it aside and lay down next to her, embracing her with both arms. "I'm sorry, Blake- I know you really want-"

"It's not just that!" Blake had objected, embracing him back and lowering her forehead onto his chest. "I- I'm starting to realize why- Sun, it's me."

Sun looked down at her sadly. It had been several years now since their first attempt at having children, and many, many more had occurred in the meantime- none of them successful. Try as they might, using every method available, including ones sent by Blake's mother Kali (who rather liked the idea of having grandchildren,) Blake simply never got pregnant.

Needless to say, this message from the doctor was hardly the first interaction they'd had- they had gone in several times in an effort to figure out if they were doing something wrong. Nothing felt wrong during the act itself, as they could both attest to, so it was even more baffling when the doctor had reported that there was nothing wrong with either of them- they both seemed perfectly healthy, and perfectly capable of performing their respective roles with bringing new life into the world.

Which, of course, did nothing to explain why it never happened.

"What do you mean it's your fault?" Sun had asked. "The doctor already said you-"

"I don't care _what_ he said!" Blake shook her head futilely. "Admit it, Sun- you have to know it, too. We're never going to be able to have children, and it's _my fault!_ "

Sun truly didn't understand Blake's logic, but she definitely sounded sure of herself, and he would be lying if he said _he_ had any idea of the reasons behind their seeming infertility.

Nevertheless, he remained at her side throughout that night, gently rubbing her back until she faded into unconsciousness, before following her shortly after.

The days after that had been somewhat awkward- the news was still clearly affecting Blake, and Sun had no idea what to say. It was a time devastating enough that, by the time he recalled Blake's night terror at all, it had faded in importance to the point that he no longer saw any point in bringing it up.

For some reason, all of it seemed to be coming back to him tonight, ever since the call.

XXXX

As said, everything had been relatively fine at first that night. Sun had beaten Blake home, and proceeded to turn on the aforementioned Nora Valkyrie special- she was very easily among his favorite comedians. Not long after, Blake had returned home as well, and laughed at seeing what he was watching.

"Nora Valkyrie again, huh?"

"What can I say? She's a genius."

"I used to know her, you know," Blake commented, taking a seat beside him. "As I recall, we were actually pretty close at one point."

"Maybe you can get us into one of her shows, then?" he threw a sideways grin at her.

She chuckled lightly. "I don't know about that- it's been so long, I'm not certain she remembers me anymore."

"Worth a shot," he'd shrugged off, before going in for a kiss. As he pulled away, he'd stood up, stretching. "Well, I'll nuke some popcorn, how about?"

"I can handle that," Blake shook her head, standing up.

"Nah, it's fine, you just got home- relax, put your feet up, and listen your genius friend over there," Sun smirked, motioning to the couch.

Blake gave another light chuckle. "You make a compelling argument. Alright."

Sun whistled as he headed into the kitchen, pulling out a small, lidded container, pouring popcorn and oil alike into it. Before he could stick it into the microwave, however, he heard a scroll ringing.

"That's me, I've got it!" came Blake's voice from the living room. Shrugging, Sun put the popcorn into the microwave and turned it on before heading into the living room, where Blake was greeting whoever was on the other end of the line.

"Yes, this is Blake- yes, that _was_ my name... oh, Ren! Yeah, I remember-"

Initially, Blake's eyes lit up with recognition, and a smile started to cross her face- only to stop halfway, replaced by a look of terror. "Yes. Yes, I remember. Distinctly. What? Well, yes, I suppose... you have? Well, that's... that's good... Well, I'd certainly _like_ to, but I can't make any promises... Hm? Yes, of course. I'll do that. Bye."

Her face was white in dread as she hung up the scroll, slowly lowering it onto the coffee table before turning and jumping when she noticed Sun there. "Oh! How- how long have you been there?"

"I caught most of it," Sun answered truthfully, concern on his face. "Blake, what's wrong? Who was that?"

"Oh, nobody," Blake shook her head. "Just... just an old friend."

"Nora?" Sun asked, trying to offer some levity, with a light smile.

The corner of Blake's mouth twitched, but didn't truly _smile._ "No, not Nora. Not... not exactly..."

Blake's eyes continued to flick around, and Sun saw that shadow behind them again, suddenly stronger now than it had ever been before.

When she next spoke, however, she gave no sign of it. "I-I think I'll take a bath."

Sun blinked in surprise. "A bath?"

Blake gave a quick nod. "Yeah- I'll just go get it started. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"I mean... of course not, but..." Sun trailed off.

"Don't wait up," she muttered, before turning and heading upstairs. Sure enough, a moment later, he heard water running in the upstairs bathroom.

Sun blinked in surprise once more. In the many years he'd known Blake, bathing had never been her first choice for cleaning herself off- it had been a point of light-hearted ribbing on more than one occasion. Generally, she tended to go for showers- very fast, brief showers, spending as little time in the rushing water as possible. While she didn't abhor water as much as some other friends Sun could think of, she didn't exactly relish in it either.

 _Must be branching out,_ he thought to himself, before hearing the popping of the nearby popcorn slowing down, prompting him to shake off his wife's oddness, turning his attention instead to the light, salty snack.

XXXX

By the time he'd finished the popcorn single-handedly, he began to notice something was off- Blake had yet to come down. Keeping in mind her distaste for baths in the first place, it struck him as odd that she was not only taking one, but apparently taking her sweet time in it. Maybe she was liking it more than she'd thought? A possibility, he supposed- nothing to worry too much over.

That said, when the two-hour long special ended and there was still no trace of Blake, he began to grow genuinely concerned. _Is she really still in there?_ Perhaps it was some form of stress relief- the call had clearly rattled her quite a bit- maybe she was taking comfort in the warm water? A possibility- definitely a possibility. Perhaps she'd appreciate a warm gesture- something to show he was still with her. Sounded good.

He rose to his feet, headed to the kitchen, grabbed a tall glass and filled it with milk from the fridge. Next, into the microwave it went, for a scant few seconds at a time, until it was just warm enough. He gave a brief taste, and shrugged- he liked milk as much as the next person, but the only true milk afficionado in the house was the one he was heating it up for in the first place.

He ascended the stairs the bathroom, where another warning light went off in his head- Blake had closed the bathroom's door. Not _too_ unusual to most, perhaps- but Sun couldn't help but recall the myriad occasions that Blake had specifically requested that they never close any doors in the house at all. There had been exceptions from time to time, but in general, the more open the house was, the more Blake liked it- it seemed to ease up that shadow behind her eyes, just a tad.

Shrugging it off, he knocked on the door. "Hey, Blakey?" he chimed. "It alright if I come in? I've got some warm milk if you're interested."

Nothing.

Well, technically, something. The water had stopped running a long time ago, but he could still hear a light dripping noise, as if the tap was still on just enough to let out a drop at a time.

 _*Drip, drip, drip.*_

"Blake?" he asked again, repeating his knock, a little more insistently this time.

 _*Drip, drip, drip.*_

 _Now_ he was starting to worry. He grabbed onto the doorknob and attempted to turn.

It wouldn't.

Warning lights were blaring. Blake did not take baths, didn't even take _showers_ this long, wouldn't ignore him, wouldn't close the door, and she _definitely_ wouldn't lock it. Things were starting to add up, one after another, but another part of him was still desperately looking for another explanation- to acknowledge anything else was simply giving the dread locking around his heart power- and that was the last thing he wanted right now.

There was a set of keys downstairs. He rushed down, rifling quickly through the cabinets until he found one marked 'bathroom.' Back upstairs, the milk standing on the banister, forlorn and forgotten. Sun's hands shook as he forced the key into the lock, turning it quickly and forcing the door open at long last.

He immediately wished he hadn't. He staggered back in horror at the sight before him.

Blake was in the bathtub, alright- a tub filled with water tinted a bright pink. The tint came from the dark liquid running up and down her arms, pouring out of numerous straight cuts, starting at her wrists and running down to her inner elbow. One arm stretched into the water below, while the other seemed to be hanging itself over the tap, drops of blood still slipping out of Blake's body and into the water below.

 _*Drip, drip, drip.*_

XXXX

Blake Belladonna's last thoughts were that she was wrong. Not wrong about Sun, or any choice that had led her to where she was today, or of any of the things she'd said to her husband, asleep or awake. She was wrong about those words spoken so many lifetimes ago, on the banks of a river through the woods in the town of Vale.

There was, in fact, such a thing as pure evil.

 _XXXX_

Please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	10. Lie Ren Reads a Journal (A)

Gamer4 in. Today's chapter may end up being a bit shorter than usual- which you, of course, will probably already know just from looking at it. We'll see. A quick response to a guest review (from guest Guest.) Yes, the name of Blake's company, Black Plateau, is a none-too-subtle nod to Black Mesa, from the Half-Life saga. It would probably take about .3 nanoseconds of looking at my stories to realize I have an almost pathological obsession with planting references and easter eggs in them- even my most serious stories tend to have a shout-out or two... or three... or four... a chapter... That said, feel free to alert me if it starts getting to the point of distracting from the actual story- that is, of course, never my intention. Alright, enough padding up here- let's dive back in.

Disclaimer: Your world needs a great defender, your world's in the way of harm. You want some romantic life, a fairy tale that's full of charm?

Chapter IX

Lie Ren Reads a Journal

Lie Ren's hands were trembling as he finally lowered his scroll for the final time that night. At long last, he moved to the window of his second-story bedroom, gazing out on the dark street running by, deeper into the town of Vale.

It had only been mid-afternoon when he had first sat down in his office, pulling up the most recent numbers tied to each of his old friends, having finally resigned himself to calling them, one by one, to fulfill their promise- to return to this town. Nevertheless, as he finally completed the last call, he could turn to his window to see the sun well below the horizon, night taking over in its place.

He had thought that calling them back would be the easy part. It seemed so simple- just dial a few numbers, remind a few old friends of their promise to return, then wait for them to do so. But there had been a heavy weight in him with every number he dialed- with every digit pressed, he could feel something closing in.

In a way, he thought, maybe he'd been hoping he never had to make those calls at all. As wonderful as it would no doubt be to see all his old friends again, there was a persistent, nagging voice in the back of his mind reminding him why he'd hoped it would never come to this. After all, even the case of Roman Torchwick had not been the first case of its ilk in the past year or so- just the first he could definitively tie to _it._

Had he been fully honest with himself, he would likely have called all of them up months ago- right from the first incident in which he'd suspected its involvement. If he'd done so, there may be several people now dead that he could have saved- a thought that made him sick. Had not the entire point of their promise been to do what no one else would? To look into the eyes of darkness where all others would rather look away, and fight it, where all others would prefer to ignore it altogether?

There had been plenty of occasions over those months that he considered making the calls, but something always stayed his hand. What if his fears were unjustified? What if these incidents were being caused by someone else- some _thing_ else- _anything_ else? He couldn't call them all up, forcing such painful memories back to the surface, for anything less than the real thing- he had to know, he had to be sure.

And the body count kept rising.

At long last, the case of Roman Torchwick- the first time he'd had evidence- a testimony- irrefutable proof that things were _exactly_ as he'd feared. There was no more time to waste with his head in the sand- it was time to get the band back together and finish the job they'd started twenty-eight years ago.

In a way, it had been easier making the calls, knowing, as he did, that his fears were justified. In another, however, it was much, much harder- with every number dialed, the dread ate away at him that... that he was playing with their lives. As the sole remaining member of their team in Vale, it was his job to watch over the town, and over the others, ready to call them back into action if need be- but that meant he'd watched as they'd all grown, finally breaking free of the shackles that this town had placed on them, and finally leading happier lives as memories of that summer drained away? Who was he to deny them that happiness?

The thought that weighed him down, kept him from making one call any sooner than half an hour after the conclusion of the one before, was rather simple- that in the best case scenario, he was drawing all his old friends away from those happy lives and back into a world of nightmare that they had fought for so long to escape.

In the worst case scenario, he was calling them back to their deaths- in a way, killing them with his own hands, his scroll and his words acting as untraceable instruments of murder.

He shook his head. There was no point dwelling- the final call had been made. Five of his six comrades had vowed to return- the sixth had not rejected him outright, but promised to dwell on her answer for a little while longer. He had cast his stone into the pond- now all that was left to do was await the ripples.

He turned away from his bedroom and walked a few feet down the hall to his study, where he quickly reached up to one of the highest shelves and pulled down a large book- though calling it a book was somewhat generous. It was more of a bound collection of papers dating back over the twenty-eight years since that fateful summer, some even older than that, telling what he considered to be the truest story of this town.

He opened up the front cover and ran a hand over his own introduction to it all:

 _Of all the questions I have imagined during my time in Vale, this one persists the most- is it possible for an entire town to be haunted?_

 _Of course, stories will always persist of haunted_ houses, _those creepy, overgrown buildings on the_ outskirts _of town- hovels of great history that none seem to quite fully understand, trees growing around it like claws out of the ground, preparing to reclaim it. Through its windows, one can almost imagine a face watching them back out of the darkness, a beckoning hand disconnected from any body..._

 _Objects are frequently haunted, whether in mythology or the lore surrounding them- a diamond that brings death to those who dare to possess it, or a ring that corrupts the minds of those who wear it. Mirrors seem the most prone to this treatment, as so many cultures view them as a doorway to other realms or planes of existence._

 _But in Vale, I sense something else– not a face peering out of a house on the street corner, or a suspicious number of deaths tied to a lantern displayed prominently in the museum... but there is a sense of haunting there, as well._

At that point, Ren's pen had stopped, when he'd been writing all those years ago, uncertain how to properly transcribe his continuing thoughts into words. Not that it mattered- he had no designs on ever publishing this book- it was hardly the kind of book that warranted publishing to begin with, though he _had_ once jokingly given it a title, casting his mind back, imagining all his friends commenting on it, until the literary minds of Blake and Pyrrha united with the whimsical brains of Yang and Nora to dub the tome _The Blue Book of Arkham_.

Regardless, he had continued to fill the book, with uncovered newspaper clippings, of transcribed portions of historical works, and quite a few musings of his own, all tied to what he considered Vale's 'dark little secret.'

His interest in the thing actually predated his friendship with the others- dating back at least as far as his father's story about the destruction of Menagerie Grill and Bar, a restaurant that had apparently been quite popular some a decade or two before Ren's birth, particularly among Vale's faunus community. At the time, discrimination against faunus was just starting to come down, so an establishment like Menagerie that welcomed them without question was something special. Ren's father, Li, had _not_ been a faunus, but had been perfectly welcome in the restaurant as well- hence his presence on the night it burned down.

The night was no secret to anybody in Vale- it had gone down in legend- but the exact details behind it had faded into obscurity. For instance, there was hardly any doubt in anyone's mind that the fire had been caused by the Black Fang, a retaliatory group to the more infamous White Fang that had been making a name for themselves at the time. The White Fang fought violence with violence, prompting the Black Fang to also fight violence with violence, and they had hardly been shy about taking credit for the destruction of Menagerie. However, the odd thing was that none of them seemed entirely certain which of them had actually begun the blaze.

It seemed feasible to some that studied the case that the Black Fang was simply lying to keep the true perpetrator from facing justice for their crimes, but that was a story Li Ren doubted. The Black Fang was, in every way, a funhouse-mirror version of the White Fang, right down to their very philosophy, though, of course, either group would be swift to deny it if confronted with this fact. Part of that philosophy was an intense sense of martyrdom- whoever it was that started the fire would have been more than eager to go down in history for their crime, even if it meant taking the hefty, likely capital punishment that would follow. None did.

The story of the fire was one Lie had been told practically as soon as he was old enough to recognize the sounds coming from his parents' mouths as speech. Initially, of course, the full thing had been watered down for his more childish sensibilities, with more details being provided with each retelling until he finally heard the full, unfiltered, unadulterated truth in his mid-teens. It had initially been a tale of heroism- Li had, at first, left out the intentions behind the fire altogether, making it sound more like a freak accident, and instead choosing to focus on a savior- a stranger dressed in green who had saved many lives that night, including Li and An, Ren's own parents. Common thought since then had been that the stranger had been the cook, or perhaps a patron just passing through. Nobody knew for sure, and he'd faded into as much legend as the person who'd started the fire in the first place.

As Ren grew older, Li had begun to peel back the layers of deception, but had still moved to protect his son from some of the world's harsher realities, attributing the burning to another mysterious individual- to an odd woman he'd seen on the outside, with multicolored hair and eyes. When Ren had eventually learned the full truth, he had initially suspected that this woman never truly existed as anything other than his father's invention, designed to guard him from the cruelty of the Black Fang. However, when he'd proposed this theory to his father, he had shaken his head.

"Of all the stories I've told you about that night, son," Li had responded, "I have never once lied to you. I've left a couple things out that An and I thought you were too young to hear, but I have never- _never_ \- told you something I knew to be wrong. There really _was_ a stranger in green that night- he saved me, your mother, and quite a few of the faunus that night- though, of course, he couldn't save everyone. And when I told you about that young lady with the different colored eyes and hair... that's absolutely true, too.

"I have no idea who she was, son. I'd never seen her before, I've never seen her since. I don't know if she was with the Black Fang or not- she might have been a faunus herself, for all I know. But I remember her face, clear as day- staring into the flames from the outside, eyes glowing, and that little smirk... mark my words, she had _something_ to do with it. I won't say she was the one who did it, I have no proof of that- but if she was completely innocent, then my name's Robert Winchester."

XXXX

Li's stories had inspired in his son a love of history, particularly surrounding the town they had taken residence in. As Lie Ren grew older, history became his best subject in school, and he was hardly ever to be found without a book detailing some great past event in his arms, from the faunus revolution to the War for Remnant. As he delved deeper into the personal history of the town itself, certain patterns became clear to him- one year, Menagerie burned to the ground. Another year, a hotel that had brought the town no small amount of attention was destroyed by one of its own boilers, taking over a hundred people with it, more than half of whom were children. One year, a carnival came to town, an event marked by the disappearance of over forty individuals, no trace of whom had ever been discovered since. As an odd connection, the first people to begin laying the groundwork for Vale also involved several people who had previously been affiliated with the circus, though they made up a small portion of the two hundred and fifty-five people who had initially become the first residents of Vale- all of whom vanished over the course of a single year, not a trace of them to be found except for a single message found on a table in one of the buildings- _God is in Heaven, all is right with the world._

Every discovery Ren made only raised more questions, until he'd finally turned to his last resort- Professor Peter Port, teacher at Beacon High School by day, local ranting kook by night. He had approached him late one summer with a request for assistance- assistance the elderly man was only too happy to provide.

"Professor Port... is there something... _wrong_ with Vale?"

The question had taken Port aback. "Wrong? Well, I'm certain that depends on what you think is right, doesn't it, my boy?"

They had gone on a walk around the town, eventually leading to them leaning over the Haven River from the top of Autumn Bridge. The river had, for once, found a happy medium that day, just the right height to resemble a river without people being frightened of being swept away if they fell in- in fact, from where they'd stood, Ren recalled seeing a few daring teens stripping down and taking a dip.

"For what so many consider a small town, Vale's population is quite large," Port had finally continued. "Almost the size of a city at times- in that respect, Vale seems right.

"We're not the largest player on the great stage of the world, but there are plenty of jobs, homes, and food to go around- as much as we rely on trade for certain things, we certainly produce enough on our own to be able to participate without fear. In that respect, all in Vale seems right."

"I'm not talking about population or economics," Ren recalled saying back. "I'm talking about- I'm talking about the _people._ So much has happened in this town- so much that we seem to just forget."

"I see," Port responded, acknowledging Ren's statement briefly before falling into several minutes of silence.

At long last, he'd asked outright, "This isn't for a school project, is it?"

"It's summer, Professor," Ren reminded him.

"Of course," Port nodded. "Nonetheless, far be it from me to turn away a young mind seeking knowledge... I suppose you are correct, my boy, at least in some respects. Of the many places I've taught, Vale seems remarkably swift to move on from tragedy. Perhaps the true power of Vale _is_ the power to forget. Perhaps, though, not all of us. I doubt the Scarlatinas will be forgetting their little girl anytime soon."

The world seemed a little darker, as though a cloud had passed over the sun, despite there not being a cloud in the sky.

"I can give you some resources, point a few fingers towards some more information about this town," Port had finally declared. "Unfortunately, though, I have no definite answers to give you- if you find any, you may well be a greater detective than I, my boy- and no teacher could ask for anything more."

Ultimately, Ren thought, he had to be grateful to the old man- after all, at least forty percent of his book here existed because of things he'd found through Port's advice. True to what he'd said, none of it had pointed to definite answers- those were all things Ren had eventually found on his own- but his interactions with Old Man Port had proved invaluable nonetheless.

Finally, Ren snapped out of his recollections, gazing at the book on his lap. Looking nearby, he picked up a pen and continued the monologue he'd begun- he didn't even remember how long ago.

 _Perhaps, then, the word haunted ought to be used differently when applied to Vale. It is not ghosts that haunt this town._

 _Another definition of 'haunt' is a noun- a location that animals have come to recognize as a good place to gather for food. Perhaps this is the best definition to use where Vale is concerned- a vast hunting ground for an unknowable creature, intangible as it is cruel, that stalks the streets and feeds on what lies within the heart of every resident. At times, the thought has even crossed my mind that this creature_ is _the town itself- a vast spider luring in the residents like flies, until, by the time they're caught, they don't even realize it._

He laid the pen down. He had simply written from the top of his mind- perhaps that little spiel could do with some revising.

Or perhaps not. He had much greater things to worry about, he mused, gazing back out of his window into the night, imagining, even now, that each of his friends were already on their way, by air, by sea, by train... on their way to fulfill a pact made in what now seemed like ancient times, yet that still held sway over them all.

At long last, he stood, leaving the study and returning to his bedroom, content to lay himself to sleep, dreaming of that summer, so long ago, when he had first made the friends who aided him in his search for answers- who, even now, held true to a promise made beside the riverbank, so many lifetimes ago...

 _XXXX_

A more 'hands-off' chapter than usual- my own terminology. Not as short as I thought, though still not too overwhelmingly long. We'll see how the next chapter goes, as we finally get into the full thrust of the story, after nine chapters of preamble. Hope my pseudo-philosophical rambling didn't drive too many people away, but to let me know, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	11. Pyrrha Nikos Meets an Angel (C)

Gamer4 in. I'd say this chapter is probably going to be longer than usual, but last time I said that, the chapter I was writing ended up one of the shortest things I've ever written- I've long since learned not to make statements like that. So let's just get started.

Disclaimer: Beware that the light is fading. Beware as the dark returns. This world's unforgiving, even brilliant lights will cease to burn!

Chapter X

Pyrrha Nikos Meets an Angel

"Pyrrha Nikos?"

Pyrrha's head snapped forward out of her reverie- she wasn't usually one to tune out during school hours, but being that this was the final day of school before the summer, leaving the students with nothing to do but head to their homerooms and wait to be dealt their final report cards, she thought this zoning-out, if any, was justified.

Up at the head of the class, one of the school's most well-renowned teachers, Glynda Goodwitch, was pacing back and forth, flicking through a pile of said report cards, dealing them out one by one. Upon recognizing her name, Pyrrha rose from her seat and headed up to the front of the classroom to receive hers.

The idea that she was more 'waddling' than 'walking' was a rather unwelcome thought.

Nonetheless, she was happy to receive a smile alongside her report card, especially from a teacher who so rarely dealt in praise. "Well done this year, Ms. Nikos," Glynda muttered softly. "I see great things in your future."

Pyrrha backed away, rubbing the back of her neck in slight embarrassment before returning to her seat. As she moved, hating that she was already winded from such a short trip, she struggled to ignore the glare being sent her way by a student at the back of the room- Cardin Winchester, a tall boy who, according to rumors, had hit puberty somewhere around seven years old. He was certainly tall enough for it to be true, with the muscles to back it up- but in terms of maturity, Pyrrha suspected otherwise- even this late into his education, he still tended to act like someone half his age. Thinking back, Pyrrha wondered if she might have avoided some of his hatred had she not pointed this out several months ago.

It seemed that practically everything Pyrrha did managed to upset him somehow, but that had really been the point that she'd become one of his main targets- when she'd come across him picking on a young rabbit-faunus in the school's courtyard. Despite not being the most athletically-inclined- as her significant second chin could attest- she had rushed to the faunus's aid, struggling to pull Cardin off of her.

Rather than abandoning his 'game,' however, Cardin had simply turned on her. "What do you think _you're_ doing, _Pig-ah?_ "

Pyrrha recalled wincing at the nickname that had plagued her since her arrival in Vale- but she'd stood her ground. "Back off- she didn't do anything to you."

"It's more the fact that she _exists,_ if you know what I mean," Cardin had sneered right back.

At that point, Pyrrha had been preparing to take a fist or two to the stomach, but by chance, a teacher had sauntered by- old man Professor Port. She could never tell whether his response to the situation had been wise or stupid- "Ah, and what seems to be going on here, students? Not an altercation, I hope?"

Cardin had backed off immediately- he was _not_ fool enough to start anything in front of a teacher. "Nah, we were just playing a game, right, girls?"

Pyrrha had momentarily entertained the idea of telling Port _exactly_ what was going on, but then she met the faunus's pleading eyes- she had tilted her head, almost imperceptibly, from side to side before speaking up on her own. "Yes, sir... just a game."

"Glad to hear it- just try to keep it peaceful. It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Now, Mr. Winchester, I wanted to talk to you about that essay..."

And with that, he had steered Cardin back into the main building, leaving Pyrrha behind with the faunus.

"I... I appreciate it," the young woman had mumbled under her breath, failing to meet Pyrrha's eyes. "Not many... not many people seem interested in helping us..."

"I've had plenty of experience with bullies myself," Pyrrha spoke soothingly. "For... obvious reasons." As one hand ran unconsciously along her engorged stomach, she extended the other to the faunus. "Pyrrha Nikos."

"V-Velvet Scarlatina," the faunus had responded, taking the hand and shaking it lightly. "I- I have to go. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow, though?"

"I'd be fine with that," Pyrrha nodded, smiling lightly and receiving one in return.

Velvet had wiped her face with her sleeve, risen to her feet, grabbed her backpack, and taken off...

Only for Pyrrha to never see her again.

"Nora Valkyrie?"

"YES!" came an extremely loud voice, breaking Pyrrha from her reverie again. She looked up to see a young woman dressed in pink with vibrant orange hair practically bouncing up to the front of the class. "Oh, thanks, Boopy Lady- couldn't have done it without you!" she began to babble, shaking Goodwitch's hand enthusiastically as she accepted her final report card. Turning to the rest of the class, she continued- "I'd like to thank the academy, and my Mom, for giving birth to me, and my Dad, because he was pretty important, too, and-"

Goodwitch's eyes raked the classroom, seemingly looking for anyone who could help. At last, another young woman, dressed in black, including a bow atop her head stood up, meeting Nora's greenish eyes with her own ambers. "Beep beep, Nora," she called out softly.

"Oh- sorry, Blake," Nora lowered her head, blushing lightly and rubbing the back of her neck as she headed back to where she'd been sitting.

Pyrrha couldn't help but chuckle silently at this display from the class clown.

XXXX

When the bell finally rang, releasing the students of Beacon High for the summer, Pyrrha elected to take a back door approach to leaving the building- all the better to avoid Cardin. She didn't know what she'd done to bring down his ire this time, but she did _not_ like the glares he'd been directing her way all that day. She moved as stealthily as she could, only accidentally bump into someone on the stairs leading down from the back door.

"Oof- sorry about that," the other person said. "Here, let me help you..."

Pyrrha's heart stopped beating when she saw who it was- a tall boy with blue eyes and remarkably long blond hair- long enough that she'd heard plenty of people mistake him for a girl before. "J-Jaune?"

"That's the name- Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, the-" it almost seemed as if there was more to the spiel, but he abruptly cut himself off, shaking his head momentarily before offering his hand again. "Don't you want to get up?"

Pyrrha took his hand, resulting in a minute or so of struggling as Jaune strained to lift her off the ground- but eventually, there she stood. "There," he panted, pulling back to lean against the wall. "That wasn't so... hard... was it?"

"I'm sorry," Pyrrha looked down shamefacedly. "I know I'm fat..."

"What? Nah, you look just fine!" Jaune waved aside unconvincingly.

Pyrrha stared at him for a moment, her lids lowered halfway.

"Okay, no, that's a lie, you're enormous," Jaune shrugged. "Is _that_ what you wanted me to say?"

"At least it's honest," Pyrrha pointed out. Looking closer, she realized Jaune had a black eye and several bruises on his face. "What happened to you?"

"Cardin and his gang," Jaune brushed aside. "Couldn't tell you why, but that guy's on the warpath today."

"I noticed- I share a class with him," Pyrrha recalled.

"Sounds like fun," Jaune scoffed. "So, uh... who might you be?"

Pyrrha's breath caught in her throat. "Uh... Pig-ah- no, um... Pyrrha. My name's Pyrrha- Pyrrha Nikos."

Jaune smiled. "Well... hope you have a nice summer, Pyrrha." With that, he turned and headed back out the door- in Pyrrha's eyes, marching off into a glorious sunset, despite it not even being noon yet. Brushing her hair back over her shoulders, Pyrrha stared for a moment longer before setting off after him.

In truth, she'd been watching Jaune from afar for a while- she wasn't sure what it was about him, but at times, she thought it was his eyes- kind, caring eyes that she'd hardly seen in anyone else before, especially around Vale. She'd been waiting for a chance to walk up and speak to him for a while, but had never mustered the courage- and here she was, running into him like an idiot, and requiring a hand up.

That said, he'd offered it, hadn't he? He hadn't mocked her for her... issue, had he? As embarrassing as it seemed at first, it was with a much lighter heart than she'd thought that she finally left the school behind and headed towards the Vale Public Library.

As she left, a much darker topic nagged at the back of her mind- particularly as she glanced at all the Missing posters strewn about the town- tacked to telephone poles, trees, the sides of buildings, everywhere they could be. The town had been abuzz for about a year now with these disappearances- mostly children, though every now and again, an adult would simply vanish one day, never to be heard from again. A tear graced the corner of Pyrrha's eye when she recalled Velvet Scarlatina, that faunus she'd helped so long ago, only for her to disappear that very night. Who could be behind it, nobody knew- a couple months ago, a curfew had been put in place until the criminal could be caught and brought to justice.

A slight chill came to her mind when she remembered another incident, a couple months before the curfew went into effect, but long after the disappearances had been recognized. Every part of her would love nothing more to believe that it had been a trick of her mind, and nothing more, brought on by the rumors circulating the town as to the criminal's true nature.

Another part of her wasn't so certain.

XXXX

It had been early January, and Pyrrha had stayed late after school. Not out of a punishment- it had been her choice to stay behind that day to assist one of the teachers- Bartholomew Oobleck, one of her favorite teachers at the school, if she was being honest. Despite his seeming inability to sit still for any length of time and his rapid-fire speech, he had a surprising amount of patience with his students and was always happy to offer extra sessions to those that needed it, or for more advanced material if the student was already ahead.

That morning, Oobleck had announced that he would be arranging his collection of books after school that day, offering extra credit to any students that saw fit to render assistance. Considering the notorious size of that collection- it took up multiple sides of his classroom and rivaled the school's library- Pyrrha had been quite alone in taking him up on this offer.

"It saddens me to see the next generation of students so uninterested in the finest form of art!" Oobleck had lamented, after everyone else had left, leaving only himself and Pyrrha behind. He was dashing back and forth across the room, doing most of the work despite Pyrrha's own diligent contributions. "It seems nowadays it's all about movies, television, comics! Quite a debacle, wouldn't you agree?"

"Oh, um..." Pyrrha had to think for a moment before she realized she was being asked a question- let alone what the question was. "Well, I certainly enjoy a good book in my hands as well... though there are some things on tv I find worth watching every now and again."

"Such as?" Oobleck's voice didn't sound accusatory or confrontational, but genuinely curious.

"Well, my favorite show at the moment is Professor What. I don't suppose you've heard of it?"

"I may have heard tell of it in the past. What kind of show is it?"

"Science-fiction," Pyrrha shrugged, continuing to sort through books as she described it. "It's about a man with a time machine that looks like a shack- he's always going through time and space and getting caught up in adventures..."

"It certainly doesn't sound like a terrible premise."

"Yes, it can be pretty fun at times," Pyrrha nodded, sliding a few more books back onto the shelf. "Though it has some disturbing parts as well."

"Dotell, dotell!"

"Well, they're always inventing new monsters and creatures for him to go up against, and some of them... I'm not the greatest fan of some of them. Just the last episode had these... weeping angels. Statues that come to life and attack you- but only when you're not looking."

"That sounds like rather a pickle, yes," Oobleck nodded, producing five books and throwing them onto the shelves seemingly at random, only for a second glance to show they'd landed in exactly the right order. "So, how did he get out of that?"

"I don't know," Pyrrha admitted. "They broke the story into two episodes- the second part is showing this weekend."

"I see, I see," Oobleck nodded, momentarily raising a hand to his chin. "Much like the film serials of old- kids today likely wouldn't know of such things."

"I've heard of them," Pyrrha shrugged.

Later on, Oobleck had looked out of the window, and jumped when he saw that the sun had set. "My goodness, Ms. Nikos, it's already dark! I appreciate your help in this matter, but it seems about time you returned home, doesn't it?"

"Oh- right!" Pyrrha agreed, seeing the darkness outside. "I should hurry- I don't want to worry my mother."

"Move swiftly, my dear girl!" Oobleck declared. "And remember- head straight home- make no detours!"

"Of course," Pyrrha nodded, pulling her winter jacket close around her before heading out into the evening.

Evening fell fast on Vale in the winter time. It couldn't be much later than five or six, and yet it was already far past twilight. Thankfully, Pyrrha didn't live that far from her school- just a quick jaunt down the street, over Autumn Bridge, and from there, less than a mile.

The night was still, and there was a sort of frozen beauty to the scene- a bright moon among crystal clear stars, hanging over a quiet, snowy landscape. Pyrrha couldn't help but take a moment's break as she crossed the bridge, gazing down at the Haven River, which, to her surprise, had frozen over. She had been here less than a year, of course, so she wasn't in the best place to judge, but most people she heard discussing the river described it as hardly ever freezing- truly, this must be a rare sight. She looked down, the stars and moon reflecting gently in the dark ice below.

"Pyrrha..."

Pyrrha spun around- she could have sworn she'd heard someone call her name. It had sounded so close- but when she turned, she was still alone on the bridge. "H...hello?" she asked, seemingly of no one.

"Down here, Pyrrha..."

That was the voice again- soft, somewhat pleasant to the ear, but sounding very close-by for someone she couldn't see.

Slowly, Pyrrha crossed to the other side of the bridge, looking through the moonlight to finally find somebody- a woman, standing on the frozen river far below.

"Are you okay?" Pyrrha called out.

The woman was short- only about four feet, maybe four and a half- with long, multicolored hair draping down her back- pink on one side, brown on the other. Pyrrha would have said it was framing her face, but she couldn't tell- the woman's face was pressed into her hands, as though she was sobbing uncontrollably. "Is something wrong?" Pyrrha prompted again.

"I've lost my way, Pyrrha..." the woman seemed to whisper, but despite this, it still rang out clear, as though she was standing right next to her. "I'm trying to find my way home, but now I'm lost... so lost..."

The woman was moving closer to the bridge, but in an odd, jerky way- almost like Pyrrha was watching a video of it happening, where entire seconds of footage were missing. Pyrrha blinked in confusion- only for the woman to suddenly appear much, much closer than she should have been capable of in that brief interim.

She took a step backwards.

The voice returned. "You seem like such a nice girl... help me find my way home, and we can relax by a fire. My home is a wonderful place... nice, warm, and cozy..."

Pyrrha continued stepping backwards until the woman seemed to disappear under the bridge- at which point she turned and continued on her way back home- something very wrong was happening here, and she wanted no part of it- until she felt a chill down her spine, accompanied by that voice again- "Please don't leave me, Pyrrha..."

She spun around- the woman was on the bridge now, standing stock-still, hands raised to cover her face, despite the steadiness of that voice. "Follow me home," it insisted. "Come home with me, and you can have whatever you desire..."

Part of Pyrrha was screaming at her to turn and run, but another part was entranced by this odd woman and her promises, guiding her to slowly take one step closer, then another...

A loud *CRACK* sounded behind her, and she spun around, searching for the source, and just like that, the spell broke. While she couldn't locate whatever had made the noise (she would later surmise it had been the sound of a car backfiring somewhere far away,) she came back to her senses, and spun around again to tell this odd woman that she would _not_ be going anywhere with her-

The woman had lowered her hands.

In the brief second that it had taken for Pyrrha to turn around, then turn back, the woman had crossed almost the entire length of the bridge- she now only stood a few feet away from her. But that wasn't the biggest worry on Pyrrha's mind right now- _she had lowered her hands._

What type of face she had been expecting, Pyrrha didn't know, but it had _not_ been this.

It was stone. Where this woman's face should have been was the stone face of a statue, curled in a horrible snarl. The mouth opened to reveal a set of horribly razor-sharp teeth, below a set of horrible eyes that empty yet predatory at the same time...

Pyrrha let out a yelp, very nearly falling to the pavement below, only avoiding it by looking down and throwing out her hands. By the time she realized her mistake and turned back to look at the woman- the _creature-_ she was standing only inches away.

She had transformed again, casting aside all semblance of humanity and fully taking on the form of one of those monsters- a weeping angel. She had taken on the full form of a statue, including stone wings sprouting from her back, her previous ensemble of a jacket over a shirt vanishing in favor of a long, stone robe. And those eyes- empty as they were, they seemed to be penetrating her skin and boring their way into her heart. Immediately, the words from the show she'd watched last week began running through her head-

 _Don't blink. Don't even blink. They're fast, faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and DON'T BLINK._

Pyrrha began walking backwards, her eyes focused on the angel. It seemed so simple- just keep her eyes on it- but in her fear, she had to struggle against the instinct to look away, look at anything else other than this... this _thing._

But it seemed to be working- no matter how far back she went, it didn't move an inch as long as she kept her eyes on it.

She didn't know what to do- she could hardly turn her back on it to run, but if she didn't, she was only biding her time until she blinked, and then, it would be over...

"Ms. Nikos?"

Pyrrha nearly had a heart attack, spinning around to see Oobleck appearing from a nearby street. "You aren't home, yet?"

Pyrrha spun back to the angel- but it was gone. "I- I... I just..." She didn't know how to _begin_ explaining what had just happened. "M-Mr. Oobleck?"

"Doctor," Oobleck corrected. "I didn't spend all that work on my doctorate for nothing, dear girl. What are you still doing out here?"

"I... I saw..."

Oobleck glanced behind her to see the bridge. "Ah, yes, truly a wondrous sight, hm? It's not often we have nights like this in Vale- relish them while they last. Nonetheless, in times like these, I can't recommend getting distracted for _too_ long."

Pyrrha wanted to tell him what she had _actually_ seen, but steadily came to the realization that she'd only sound crazy if she did- especially after their earlier talk. In fact, doubt was already beginning to set in on her, herself- perhaps she _was_ just imagining things, her fear of the weeping angels mixing with the fear in this town of whoever was causing these disappearances. It seemed a very logical explanation for why she would see such a thing.

So why didn't she truly believe it?

Finally, she handled her confusion by changing the subject. "You... you finished with the books, then?"

"Not quite, my dear girl, but as I was adjusting my shelves, I came to the realization that I am running dangerously low on coffee back home- and the store is closing very soon. I suppose the remainder of the books will have to wait for another day."

Pyrrha looked down to, sure enough, see a large coffee tin under her teacher's arm. "I see."

XXXX

Pyrrha blinked, bringing herself out of her memories and finding herself in front of the Vale Public Library. It seemed her feet had steered her true even as her mind dwelled on old, unpleasant memories. She was done thinking about that incident in January- time to start preparing for her summer.

Here was to a nice, relaxing three months under the Vale sun.

 _XXXX_

Honestly, I was less than certain where to cut this one- it could have gone on for a while longer, but it seemed like as good a place as any to stop it. Though that brings me to another question for the combined readership of about three people that this story has... what would you prefer, going onwards? Longer chapters, shorter chapters, or a mix? I can see each way having its own advantages and disadvantages with the story here, but I'm curious to see what anyone else thinks. That aside, all else is as ever- please R&R, constructive criticism embraces, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	12. Pyrrha Nikos Lends a Hand (C)

Gamer4 in, and welcome back from this story's first major substantial break- and not through my intention, I assure you- I actually had a full plan for this chapter already when... my computer crashed. Go figure. But here we are, back in the saddle, and the computer seems to have regained its old... _relative_ stability. Hopefully, that's something it'll retain for a decent amount of time. Alright, back to it- next chapter, go!

Disclaimer: Legends scatter, day and night will sever, hope and peace are lost forever!

Chapter XI

Pyrrha Nikos Lends a Hand

The temperature seemed to immediately drop by at least twenty degrees as Pyrrha entered the library. The heat that had seemed to press down on her abruptly dissipated, and she breathed a sigh of relief- much as she was glad to be free from school, she came from a much colder climate than Vale, and tended to find the heat somewhat oppressive.

She passed through the lobby into the central library, which was practically empty- a librarian here or there, perhaps a college student or two sifting through the shelves, but the only person Pyrrha noticed around her own age was a young woman dressed in black, up to a bow atop her head. She immediately recognized her as the apparent friend of the girl in pink from earlier. She was currently sitting at a table near a window looking out on the woods, seemingly basking in a sunbeam as she flicked her way through a rather large-looking tome.

Pyrrha smiled- she didn't really have anyone in this town yet that she could truly call a friend, but a shared love of reading seemed as good a place to start as any. She walked over to the table and sat down across from the girl, whose amber eyes flicked up only momentarily before returning to her book.

"Hello?" Pyrrha eventually prompted, keeping her voice down in accordance with their location.

The other girl took a slight intake of breath through her nose before lowering her book ever so slightly. "Hello," she greeted back. "...Aren't you that transfer student?"

"Yeah, that's me," Pyrrha nodded. "Pyrrha Nikos." She extended her hand, only to slowly retract it as the other girl simply stared at it. In an effort to lighten the mood, she began to say, "But you can call me Pig-er, actually, just call me Pyrrha."

"...Right," Blake slowly responded, before returning to her book.

Pyrrha bit her lip- she had never really had a chance to hone her social skills before, as she so rarely spent longer than a year in any one city. Finally, she decided on a more direct approach. "So... what's _your_ name?"

The other girl's eyes flickered up again. "Blake," she muttered shortly.

"I see," Pyrrha forced a smile, struggling to ignore the increasing awkwardness. "Er... I like your bow."

"I appreciate it," Blake responded shortly, not even looking up from her book anymore.

"It goes great with your... hair?" She was at an increasing loss for anything to say.

"Glad to hear it," Blake responded, almost automatically.

Pyrrha bit her lip, casting her mind around for anything else to talk about. "...Beautiful day out, isn't it?"

"Lovely," Blake nodded, eyes remaining fixed on her tome. "Almost as lovely as this book, in fact."

Pyrrha met Blake's amber eyes, struggling to think of something to say, until Blake removed the necessity- "Which I will continue to read."

Another moment of silence, until Blake spoke again, a note of agitation entering her voice. "As soon as you leave."

Finally, Pyrrha gave a weary sort of nod, standing up and heading off, mentally writing this other girl off as a lost cause. Instead, she headed into some nearby rows of books, thinking she might, at least, be able to find a copy of the book that Blake had been reading. Her hand had mostly covered the title, but she'd at least managed to read _Ninjas of..._ something. She imagined it was a city- _Ninjas of Gilead,_ perhaps? Or something more poetic- _Ninjas of the Dynasty?_ She could only imagine.

She was searching through the shelves when another type of book caught her eye- _An Anthology of Romantic Poetry._ She froze for a moment, images of Jaune Arc suddenly jumping back to the forefront of her mind. Looking down at herself, she begrudgingly admitted that she was hardly ever going to win him over with her looks alone- unless he was into girls almost wider than they were tall. That said, perhaps a more romantic gesture might be the thing to start contact with him.

She reached up and pulled the book down, taking it to a nearby table, across the reading room from where Blake was still thumbing through her own tome. She opened it up and began to study the pages intently.

After a while, she came to the decision to write Jaune a poem. Ultimately, she decided on a haiku- something about that form of poetry appealed to her, packing layers upon layers of depth and meaning into seventeen syllables along three lines. Crisp, to the point, but with the potential to go so much deeper.

Besides, maybe she'd feel a little less awkward delivering a poem to him on a postcard.

The library had plenty of readily available sheets of paper and writing utensils, so she simply grabbed a few slips of paper and a pen before sitting back down at her table, sticking the end of the pen between her teeth as she began to think of a way to transcribe her feelings into words.

The sun had already reached its peak in the sky by the time the pen finally started to move, and it was a decent ways along its descent when Pyrrha finally leaned back to examine what she'd written.

 _Kind, crystal blue eyes._

Well, it was a start, at least. She glanced out the window and saw the descending sun. She could continue this later- her mother had very nearly panicked the last time she'd come home late. She folded up the slip of paper and tucked it into her pocket, checked out the book, and headed out the door.

She was following the path home when she took a moment to stop and gaze out over the fence beside her, on the other side of which was a steep hill emptying out into the woods. It was a beautiful sight, the sun descending gently towards the tops of the trees, the air crisp around them-

*WHACK!*

Pyrrha staggered and fell to the ground as a hefty blow collided with her ear. She looked up to see three boys laughing cruelly above her. Her heart sank- above her were three members of what had rapidly come to be known at Beacon High as Team CRDL, a group of bullies of the worst kind. They had taken their initials to form the name, pronouncing it as Team Cardinal in honor of their leader, but everyone Pyrrha knew simply referred to them as Team Curdle.

Above her, she could see Dove Bronzewing, short, squat, with light brown hair and blue eyes- not the kind, compassionate blue eyes of Jaune Arc, but the cold, cruel blue of a dark winter's night.

At his side was Sky Lark, taller, a bit more lanky, with muddy brown eyes and hair of indeterminate color- it was concealed behind a dark blue dye, and styled into a half-hearted sort of mullet.

And, at long last, their leader himself, Cardin Winchester, taller than any of the others, far more muscular, with crimson hair gelled into a want-to-be pompadour, his indigo eyes narrowed wickedly as he gazed at the girl he'd just knocked to the ground.

"How are _you_ doing, Piggah?" he asked coldly. "Off to have sex with some more of your furry friends?"

Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark bent down, grabbing her by her shoulders and forcing her to her feet. "Oof, we've got a big one here, Cardin," Sky smirked as he and Dove pressed Pyrrha against the fence.

"Lift her shirt," Cardin ordered. "I want to see if she's really as fat as she looks."

Dove immediately followed the order, pulling up Pyrrha's shirt to reveal the rolls of her stomach, which Sky wasted no time in slapping, gleefully sending waves across her belly, Pyrrha struggling to escape all the while.

"Stop- let me go- let me go!"

"I don't think we will, Piggah," Cardin shook his head, forcing her head back and glaring down at her with a cold, unhappy smile. "Y'see, people have started disrespecting me more ever since your little stunt with the rabbit freak- not by too much, but enough for me to notice. I don't appreciate being disrespected."

"He really doesn't," chuckled Dove, still keeping Pyrrha's left arm under tight lockdown.

Cardin began to pace as he continued, producing what Pyrrha realized, to her horror, was a small knife. "So, I've been wondering, maybe there's a way to start earning people's respect again- be reminding them who it is they should _never_ cross. And who better to start with than the one who started it all?"

He turned back to her and began to approach, hefting the knife as he did so. "So, remind me, Piggah, who is it you shouldn't have crossed?"

"You..." she huffed out, still struggling to escape this predicament, eyes fixed on the knife.

"Very nice to say," Cardin smirked, "but how do I know you'll remember?"

"Say his name," Sky ordered.

"Say his name!" Dove parroted.

"Cardin," Pyrrha forced out, her squirming increasing with intensity with ever step closer Cardin drew with that knife out.

"Say it again!" Cardin barked.

"Cardin!" Pyrrha repeated. "I won't cross you again, Cardin!"

"Great to hear you say," Cardin repeated. "But I need to make sure you remember- so I'm gonna carve my name into your stomach, just to make sure."

Pyrrha's eyes widened in terror- only for a certain level of relief to come over her as she heard Dove and Sky start laughing. Surely, they wouldn't be laughing so hard if he actually intended on going through with such a ridiculous proposition-

Cold hands closed in again on her heart when she looked up to see Cardin still approaching, knife still out, and smile gone. She realized that Dove and Sky had made the same mistake she had- the idea was so outlandish that it seemed impossible for him to actually go through with it- but written into ever corner of his face was the message that he fully intended to actually do this.

She flinched as the cold metal of the knife made contact with her belly, pressing until it drew a single drop of blood.

Dove and Sky weren't laughing anymore.

"Hey, whoah, take it easy there, Cardin." Sky was the only one to speak up. "We've got her spooked, no need to actually _do_ it, man-"

"SHUT UP!" Cardin bellowed at his crony. "IT ALL STARTED WITH HER! IT STARTED WITH HER- and now... now it ends with her, too!"

Pyrrha let out a cry of pain as the knife fully entered into her, and pulled down in a sharp curve, leaving a glimmering red C etched into the side of her belly. Just as quick as it had penetrated her, the knife retreated, Cardin still glaring at her as he held it back up.

"So, Piggah... let's all spell with Cardin. C...A..."

Pyrrha froze for a moment as she saw the knife drawing nearer again. It was now or never.

In her writhing, her feet lashed out, almost walking up Cardin's front, the right foot first smacking into his knee, then his chest...

While her left, unguided by any conscious decision of her own, found its way into his crotch.

Cardin let out a yell of pain of his own, buckling over and grasping at this latest injury. Meanwhile, the force from her kicks propelled Pyrrha backwards, into an old fence, rotting away from age. It immediately buckled beneath her weight, before giving way entirely. Between this, and the shock of all that was happening so fast in front of them prompting Dove and Sky to slacken their grips, she finally broke free and began to tumble, backwards, down the hill.

Not that Pyrrha routinely entertained the idea of falling backwards down a hill in general, but the thought occurred to her that if she _had,_ she'd likely have envisaged herself rolling down, like a boulder, aided by her own girth.

That was not what was happening now- she was bouncing and slamming into the ground repeatedly, collecting dirt and bruises along the way, all while blood continued to leak out of her stomach, and in all of it, only the most absurd thought made its way to the forefront of her mind-

 _Well, Mom will kill me if the fall doesn't._

In her mind, the fall went on for hours- in reality, however, it couldn't have been longer than a minute before she finally came to a halt at the bottom of the hill, at the edge of Vale's own Emerald Forest. Looking up, she could see the three members of Team CRDL, much smaller from so far away, bending over the twisted remains of the fence. Distantly, she could hear Cardin shouting, "YOU'RE DEAD, PIGGAH! YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD!"

She could no longer tell how serious he was about that proposition, but didn't intend to stick around to find out. She turned and dashed into the woods as fast as her legs could carry her.

XXXX

Trees whipped by her as she tore through the woods, Cardin's furious calls still far off, but drawing closer all the time.

Eventually, the trees began to thin, until she stumbled into a clearing through which ran what she could only guess was the Haven River. She dug in her heels, bringing herself to a halt. One of the last things her father had ever said to her rang in her ears- "Remember, Pyrrha, don't go into water if you can't see the bottom."

She turned to her side and continued her sprint alongside the river. Her legs were carrying her faster than she'd ever thought possible, perhaps due to adrenaline, but her stamina was steadily running dry- she'd have to find somewhere to hide eventually.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw what she initially mistook for a cave. She dug in her heels again, turning to look- but it wasn't a cave. It was a drain pipe. A rather wide one, as drain pipes went, but a drain pipe nonetheless. It looked like she might be able to squeeze in if she tried. It was hardly a tantalizing proposition...

"I HEAR HER! SHE WENT THIS WAY!"

-but it was the best she had. She leapt forward, clambered up into it, and began pulling herself as far in as she could. Once she was relatively confident she was out of sight, she halted, turning to keep her eyes fixed on the entrance, in case CRDL came wandering by. She could still hear them, footsteps and shouting growing louder and louder as they drew nearer and nearer.

And then they passed- presumable over the hill the drain pipe was build into, as she didn't see anyone running past the entrance. She let out a silent sigh of relief as they passed, struggling to steady her heart, which was currently beating at her chest like a hammer.

And then, she heard voices echoing into the pipe- coming from the outside, from a decent distance, but clear enough for her to not miss a word.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here, boys!"

Pyrrha flinched, looking to both sides, wondering if they'd somehow found her, but then another girl's voice spoke up in response.

"What do you want, Cardin?"

The girl's voice was high and rather cold- but Pyrrha could detect some nerves in it as well.

"Relax, Ice Queen, we're not looking for you today," came Cardin's voice. "We're not here to stop- wait, what _are_ you doing?"

"N-n-none of your b-b-business!" came another girl's voice, much fiercer than the first, but with an unmistakable stammer- a stammer Cardin clearly noticed as well.

"Oh, it's n-n-none of my b-b-business, is it?" Pyrrha could actually hear the sneer in Cardin's voice. "Well, we're looking for that lardass, Piggah Nikos- has she come by here? Tell us and we won't have to knock over your pathetic little treehouse!"

"It's just us out here!" the first girl, 'Ice Queen,' shot back. "We haven't seen anyone else all day!"

"You sure about that, Ice Queen?" That was Dove Bronzewing. "Sure she's not hiding up in your little clubhouse?"

"Of course not! We couldn't hide anything up there if we wanted to!"

"Damn right you couldn't," Cardin spoke up again, that all-too-familiar note of cruelty reentering his voice. "You couldn't do _anything_ with a treehouse like that- let us get rid of it for you, huh?"

"St-st-stop it!" came the angry voice of the other girl.

"M-m-make us!" Cardin mocked, and Pyrrha heard the distant sounds of branches snapping, wood being tossed against wood and earth.

"Stop it!" came 'Ice Queen's' voice again, only for her to gasp as Pyrrha heard the sound of what she could only imagine was Cardin striking her down.

"You're lucky today, losers," Cardin growled at them. "We're not out for you- only for Piggah. Come on, boys."

With that, the footsteps started up again, growing more and more distant, replaced by quiet sobs that Pyrrha guessed were coming from 'Ice Queen.'

Slowly, Pyrrha began to work her way back out of the pipe, moving carefully in case CRDL decided to come back, though, to her relief, it didn't sound like they would. Eventually, she clambered out, glad to be able to stretch as her feet made contact with the solid ground. Fighting through the still-stinging pain on her stomach, she turned and began making her way towards the voices.

Up ahead, in the middle of numerous fallen boards and branches, she found two girls- one crouched over the other. On the ground was the one she imagined was 'Ice Queen'- her hair was pure white, tied off in a ponytail that fell to her side, while she wore a white dress. The girl kneeling over her was significantly taller, with long, tangled blond hair that fell down her back, dressed more like what Pyrrha imagined most bikers wore, with a yellow shirt and leather jacket.

Looking up, the blond spied her through eyes of amethyst. "Hey- g-g-get over here and help, w-would ya?"

Pyrrha hurried over, to see the girl in white was not just sobbing- she seemed to be struggling to breath. "What's wrong with her?"

"She has b-b-breathing problems," the blond replied quickly. "She has m-medicine, b-but she's out!"

"My- my purse!" the girl in white choked out. "Yang- my purse! The drugstore!"

"Right, right!" 'Yang' nodded fervently, lifting her friend up to reveal a bag draped around her back, pulling it off before gently laying her back onto the ground. "And you!" she added, looking at Pyrrha. "C-can you k-keep an eye on her until I g-g-get back?"

"Of course," Pyrrha nodded. "This is kind of my fault to begin with-"

Yang didn't seem to listen to her past 'of course.' "Right- I'll b-b-be back," she forced out, before dashing off. Overhead, Pyrrha spied a bridge- she must not be as far from the main paths as she'd thought. Yang climbed up a nearby hill onto this bridge, where she climbed onto a bright yellow bike. "Come on, Bumblebee, let's roll!" she called out, speaking without a stutter for the first time as she took off.

Leaving Pyrrha behind with the girl in white.

Pyrrha looked down at the girl, still struggling to breath. "It'll be okay," she tried to sound soothing. "It's going to be okay- Yang will be back with medicine soon enough."

The girl seemed to struggle to steady her breathing. "Who... who are you?"

"Pyrrha Nikos, the transfer student," Pyrrha introduced herself, struggling to keep her voice calm as she extended a hand. "And you?"

"Schnee- Weiss... Weiss Schnee."

'Weiss' struggled to take her hand and shake it in affirmation of their introductions, as something clicked in Pyrrha's mind- the Schnees were well known throughout the world as among the richest families. Pyrrha had been doubtful that a schoolgirl would have enough money to buy some medicine at the drop of a hat like this, but if this girl was truly a Schnee, she likely had enough money to buy the whole store.

Weiss's hand released Pyrrha's, and lowered itself to her stomach- where blood was still oozing out of her wound and staining her shirt. "You- you're hurt..."

"Cardin," Pyrrha explained shortly, and this time, something seemed to click in Weiss's mind.

"Pyrrha- Piggah- you're the one he was looking for..."

"I'm sorry," Pyrrha cringed. "I know this is my fault-"

"Not your fault," Weiss shook her head listlessly. "They always have it out for us, it was... only a matter of time..."

Pyrrha looked around, struggling to find something else to talk about, to keep Weiss's mind occupied while they waited. Eventually, her mind fell on the very girl they were waiting for. "You and Yang seem pretty close," she commented.

"One of my... best friends," Weiss forced out. "We met... a year or two ago... not many people... are willing to talk to a Schnee... but she was..."

A sad look passed over Weiss's face. "She wasn't- she wasn't always like this," she reflected. "If CRDL had tried this a year ago, she'd have beaten them all to a pulp..."

"What happened?" Pyrrha asked gently.

"She never used to stutter, either," Weiss continued to reminisce. "It all started... just before the start of the school year... with these disappearances..."

Pyrrha's heart sank. "Someone close to her?"

"Close to all of us," Weiss's eyes closed. "The first person to go missing- was Yang's little sister."

"Oh." Pyrrha had no idea how to respond to this bit of information, but she now thought she might understand a bit of Yang's stutter. "I- I see."

"I knew her, too," Weiss recalled. "She was... she was such a nice girl... she wore her heart on her sleeves. You took one look at her, and- and you couldn't help but like her... Yang and I are... part of a group of friends, I guess you could say- and she was like a little sister to all of us. And then..."

"It's okay," Pyrrha raised her hand- she didn't need Weiss to go into any further detail.

Weiss shook her head. "When school started up again, and Yang started to realize Ruby wasn't coming back... that's when she started stuttering. That's when she stopped fighting back- she seems so... so _empty_ now. Like the lights are on, but nobody's home, you know?"

"I... I _think_ I understand," Pyrrha muttered uncomfortably. The truth was, she knew she couldn't _begin_ to understand- she'd never had any siblings, brother or sister, older or younger. To have someone that important to you ripped away was something she knew she could _never_ fully empathize with- only sympathize.

"That's how we started coming out to the woods," Weiss continued. "Every week, at least once a week, we would start coming out here, looking for Ruby- I think Yang still thinks she's out here somewhere."

"But that's impossible," Pyrrha stated the obvious.

Weiss met her eyes with surprising steadiness. "I know. Believe me, I know. But once Yang has her mind set on something, _you_ try talking her out of it- especially when Ruby is involved. We kept looking... and looking... and looking..."

"Is that why you're out here today?"

"...More or less," Weiss hesitated. "Over time, the others and I have managed to talk her into doing other things while we're out here. Trying to get her mind off it- trying to get her to focus on other things. We- we were trying to build a treehouse today- I say 'we,' but the others are busy, I don't know with what..."

A long, hanging silence fell over them, one that Weiss eventually broke.

"It's- it's probably best not to bring this up around Yang, okay? You understand?"

"Of course not," Pyrrha nodded. "I wouldn't want to... to hurt her..."

With her promise made, they drifted off into another uneasy silence until Yang returned.

XXXX

And return she did, reappearing on the bridge atop her bike, which she leapt off of while it was still moving, only _then_ knocking down the kickstand before dashing down the hill, dropping Weiss's purse next to her, and producing an inhaler and- a roll of bandages.

"Here you go," Yang muttered, handing the inhaler to Weiss. "And here... you go," she continued, turning and presenting the bandages to Pyrrha.

"Um... thank you," Pyrrha blinked, surprised but not altogether displeased as she accepted the bandages.

"What, you th-thought I didn't n-n-notice the b-blood?" Yang gave a sideways smirk at her as she began pulling up her shirt, still sticky with the dark red substance. "I'm g-guessing you're the one that C-C-Cardin was looking for."

"Indeed," Pyrrha nodded, finally pulling the shirt over her stomach, causing Yang and Weiss alike to wince as they saw the letter C etched into her skin. Weiss took a nervous pull on the inhaler.

"He wanted to teach me a lesson for disrespecting him," Pyrrha explained. "He was going to carve his whole name into me before I got away."

"Holy Dust," Weiss gasped.

Yang clenched her fists. "He's always b-been a b-bastard, but lately he's r-r-really been going over the d-deep end..."

"I remember someone else saying something similar," Pyrrha recalled, wrapping the bandages around herself.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Weiss asked concernedly.

"Yeah- this should hold me over until I get home, then believe me, my Mom will take care of me after that," Pyrrha assured them. "She's... she's been a little overprotective since Dad died- makes me eat fourth helpings at ever meal." As she explained this, she raised a subconscious hand to her overlarge belly.

Yang reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "Hey- y-you're alright in _my_ b-book. And any enemy of C-Cardin is a f-friend to us." Removing her hand and holding it out for Pyrrha to take, she finally officially introduced herself. "Yang Xiao Long."

"Pyrrha Nikos," Pyrrha smiled, taking her hand and shaking it.

"Well, Pyrrha Nikos," Yang grinned, pulling all three of them to their feet, "welcome to Team Loser."

 _XXXX_

A good feeling about the chapter in general, with less of a sense of where, exactly, to leave off. Next chapter, ideally up later this week, shall be a bit of an interquel to this one, following Yang on her bike ride. Until then, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	13. Yang Xiao Long Beats the Devil (1) (C)

Gamer4 in. Today, you may have noticed the presence of something that wasn't there before- and sure enough, we now have a cover for this story, courtesy of my friend Breenut! Definitely makes a better image for this story than my usual avatar portraying the protagonists of Live A Live, though, come to think of it, that might not have been terrible either, in its own way. Anyways, back into the story we go!

Disclaimer: This will be the day we've waited for, this will be the day we open up the door!

Chapter XII

Yang Xiao Long Beats the Devil (Part I)

"Hey- g-g-get over here and help, w-would ya?"

Yang was starting to get desperate- it wasn't enough for the assholes of Team CRDL to accost her and Weiss while they were out in the woods working on their treehouse, knocking what little work they'd managed to get done back to the ground, but they'd had to knock Weiss herself to the ground as well. The stress of the situation seemed to be sending Weiss into a fit- and she was out of her medicine.

Yang's first reaction, of course, had been to move towards her beloved bike, Bumblebee, and take off back into town, but she refused to leave Weiss on her own.

It was quite the dilemma, until what to her wondering eyes should appear but another girl- tall but remarkably stout, climbing her way up the hill, concern already written into her emerald eyes. Yang wasted no time in calling out to her, growing more frustrated as that accursed stutter impeded her attempts.

Nonetheless, to her vast relief, the girl did indeed come, hurrying over and crouching over Weiss alongside her. "What's wrong with her?" the girl asked quickly.

There were plenty of answers Yang could have given to this query- Weiss had a list of medical issues long enough to wrap around Beacon High three times and still have enough to tie into a neat little bow- but she elected to take the simplest, most obvious route. "She has b-b-breathing problems. She has m-medicine, b-but she's out!"

"My- my purse!" came Weiss voice, choking out through her attack on the ground below. "Yang- my purse! The drugstore!"

"Right, right!" Yang nodded fervently- she'd already formulated the plan in her mind, even if the thought to take Weiss's purse hadn't immediately occurred. She bent down and lifted Weiss up enough to slide her purse over her head before gently lowering her back onto the ground. With this, she turned to the new girl- "And you!" She hesitated for a moment, her eyes landing on the stomach of the girl's shirt, where a large patch of blood was still spreading across the fabric. She didn't have time to ask, but resolved to do something nonetheless. In the meantime, she delivered her request. "C-can you k-keep an eye on her until I g-g-get back?"

"Of course," the girl nodded. "This is kind of my fault to begin with-"

Yang leapt to her feet, hardly paying attention to anything past the girl's assent. "Right- I'll b-b-be back," she forced out, mentally cursing at her inability to get out even those simple four words without stammering. She turned and rapidly climbed up the nearby hill to the bridge she'd left Bumblebee on, kicking up the kickstand, and taking off with her customary cry, "Come on, Bumblebee, let's roll!"

With that, she was off, feet working furiously on the pedals, wind blowing through her hair.

Despite the sharp increase in activity, her heart actually seemed to steady as she biked- Bumblebee's seat (the technical term, though Yang often thought of it instead as a 'saddle') was one of the places she felt the most at home. She had fallen in love with this bike practically from the second she saw it in the store window, stripes of black along a paint job otherwise consisting of bright yellow- it seemed like there was already a part of herself in the bike, a feeling that only intensified when she first sat astride it.

XXXX

The last summer had been a busy one, for certain, as she went around Vale performing any odd job she could find, from mowing lawns to babysitting, the thought of that bike in her mind all the while.

Her enthusiasm was, of course, dampened by the end of the summer, when-

 _No,_ she chastised herself mentally. _No, don't think of that..._

With a great amount of focus, she managed to rip her mind from the elephant at the end of that summer and forwards a couple more months, when she had finally, proudly, entered the bike shop and plopped down all her earned cash before walking out with her bike in tow. She could practically hear an old, wise man whispering in her ear as she did- "The bike chooses the biker, Miss Xiao Long. It's not always clear why, but I think it is clear we can expect great things from you and that bike."

She had gotten onto it and prepared for a ride around town to break it in. Running a loving hand over the bars, she had decided that her perfect bike deserved a name- a name that came very easily when she spied the paint job that had drawn her to it in the first place. "Come on, Bumblebee, let's roll!"

It had taken a moment to get the bike started- possibly due to its size. It was easily large enough to seat her and one, maybe two of her friends if they squeezed together close enough. Nonetheless, once she got going, she _traveled._ Before she even knew it, she was at the other end of the town, and still raring to go further. Nowhere seemed too far away, not when she was astride Bumblebee. The coastline nearby? As easy as walking next door. The Vale Airport, which, despite bearing the town's name, was many, many miles away? She'd be there in an afternoon. The Kingdoms of Atlas or Vacuo? Pshh, give her a real challenge! When she was on her loyal bike, she could even beat the Devil!

She had been so consumed in the wonder of her bike that all else had seemed to fade into irrelevance- until she returned home that night, struggling against the need to show off, ultimately giving in when she saw her father working in the garage. "Hey, Dad, check it out- I finally g-got that bike! She's a real b-beast, but I'm breaking her in j-just fine."

It had taken a while for Taiyang Xiao Long to finally look up from his work, and when he did, there was something in his eyes that immediately brought Yang's mood down, as all that she had managed to forget on the back of her new, faithful steed came crashing back all at once.

The smile on his face couldn't have looked more forced as he reached out and rubbed the top of her head briefly before pulling away again. "Nice work, kiddo," he spoke in a voice just as pained as his smile, before returning to his table.

Yang sighed- as much as she tried to forget it, it was simply impossible to gloss over. Neither she nor her father had forgotten then- and likely never would forget- what the end of that summer had cost them.

But there was another memory of that day, nagging at the back of Yang's mind- one that she was still struggling to force back- there was no doubt that it hadn't truly happened, that it was just the ramblings of her own grief-stricken mind- but it stuck out to her nonetheless, especially considering what had happened only a few months later.

After her failure to impress her father, she had gone back out on her bike, this time feeling different, as if she were trying to outrun the staggering, colossal absence that lurked in her house- the absence of Ruby. Nonetheless, she had returned, as she always did. She had felt empty, pulling up to the house, dismounting Bumblebee in the garage, much less triumphantly than she'd always imagined, and climbed up the stairs into the hall.

She'd intended to go into her room, but at the last second, her eyes had found themselves drawn to Ruby's. Against her better judgement, she found herself drawn, one step at a time, into the room of her missing younger sister.

As ever, entering Ruby's room was like stepping into a furnace. Everything, from the ceiling to the wallpaper to the bedspread to even the carpet was a testament to her favorite color- red. In light of what had happened, the color seemed to take on a new, darker meaning. An air of sorrow hung thick over the room- Taiyang had insisted on preserving it, just as it was, but something had changed nonetheless. The bed was too neatly made, with no depression where Ruby lay down to sleep every night. Ruby had been an avid reader, often rummaging through her bookshelf, casting one tome after another to the side in her search for any given days _perfect_ reading material- yet now, they had all been returned to the shelf in perfect orderliness.

Of all these books, one stood out from the others- a large tome containing no written words, but instead a collection of images. Yang found her hand drawn to it, opening it up to a random page, showing Ruby alongside her graduating class from Signal Elementary. She'd been so happy that day, unable to stop boasting about her incredible grades, and babbling incessantly about how great it would be to attend the same school as Yang the following year.

Yang turned a page, revealing Ruby playing with their Uncle Qrow. Qrow loved both of his nieces deeply, but it had hardly been a secret that Ruby was the apple of his eye. Yang allowed a sad smile to grace her face as she looked at him, so glad to be playing with a niece he treated almost as his own daughter, unaware that in less than a month, she would seemingly vanish off the face of the earth...

And, at long last, a simple shot of Ruby herself, taken for the school yearbook, but now large enough to occupy a page on its own. Tears welled in Yang's eyes as she ran a hand over her sister's short hair, starting off black, fading to red at the end- the silver eyes, glimmering with wonder at the world, and that stupid red cloak that she never-

Yang froze, eyes fixed on the picture. That couldn't have happened- it was simply impossible. The picture must just be different than she remembered, that's all- there was no way Ruby's eyes in the image had _moved,_ turned themselves to look more closely at her-

The picture _winked._ Yang started, dropping the album on the ground, where it fell on a different page- an image of the fishing trip Yang and Ruby had taken with their father. Before Yang could bend down to pick it up, the pages suddenly began turning as if the book were caught in a high wind, flicking all the way to the back cover. Abruptly, it reversed, moving back towards the front, only to abruptly stop on that same page- the image of Ruby on her own. Her eyes were _unquestionably_ moving now, roving around the room until they locked onto her sister.

And then- she spoke. "Yang!" she called, her voice strangely muffled, but still very audible. "Yang, help! I'm lost- please, come find me!"

Yang was beyond stuttering- she had been rendered absolutely speechless. Before she could do anything else, another change overcame the picture- blood began to leak out of Ruby's eyes, nose, mouth- and the edges of the image itself. Yang started backwards as it continued to leak, covering the album, and the floor...

She supposed later that she must have let out a scream, though she had no memory of doing so- either way, a moment later, she'd heard rapid footsteps, followed by Taiyang bursting through the bedroom door. "What is it, what's going on?" he asked, eyes roving around the room, quickly taking everything in.

"The- the album- the b-b-book!" Yang forced out, struggling to say anything.

Taiyang's eyes finally fell on the album, and Yang's heart continued hammering, wondering what he would say-

"What _about_ it?"

Yang blinked- what did he _mean,_ what about it? Did he not _see_ the _blood?_

"It- I- it..."

Taiyang looked back at her, sighing, all tension leaving his body. He walked over to the album, knelt down, and picked it up, heedless to the pool of blood he left behind, and to the copious amount of it he got on his hands as well. He carried it back to the bookshelf and slid it back into place. At long last, he turned to Yang herself, reaching out and touching her cheek with one bloodstained hand. "I get that these last couple months have been stressful... on both of us. But..." he closed his eyes, letting out a long-suffering sigh. "Maybe... maybe we should just stay out of this room from now on. For both our sakes- there are too many memories."

Yang stared, open-mouthed, as he turned and left. It took half an hour for her to finally seize the initiative to leave the room herself, heading into the bathroom, where she could, indeed, see a smear of blood on her cheek where her father had touched her.

So why couldn't _he_ see it?

XXXX

Yang shook her head- she had more important things to worry about than distant memories she was less than confident had actually _happened._ It all sounded pretty far-fetched, especially considering it had been last _November._

 _But you know it happened,_ whispered a voice in her mind. _You know for a damn_ fact _that was real. Besides, what about what happened in May?_

 _Shut up,_ Yang told the voice firmly. _I don't have_ time _to think about that- Weiss needs me!_

Sure enough, she was already pulling up in front of Vale's drugstore. She dismounted and dashed inside, Weiss's purse slung over her shoulder, bouncing against her hip.

Along the way, she snatched a package of bandages off a shelf- that new girl looked like she was going to need them. Beyond that, she let nothing deter her from her goal- the counter at the back of the store behind which stood the owner, Mr. Klein Sieben, a kindly older man with brown hair- what little was left of it- and lighter brown eyes. "Mr. Sieben!" she panted as she ran up to him.

"Oh, Ms. Xiao Long!" he greeted her. "What brings you here today?"

"I-I-I-I- W-W-W..." Yang struggled, but in her panic, she couldn't get out a single word. Finally, mentally cursing once more, she reached into Weiss's purse, praying that Weiss was every bit the nerd she knew she- _yes!_ She pulled out Weiss's notebook and seized the pen chained to the counter, beginning to scribble away before showing it to Klein.

 _Weiss is in the woods, having an asthma attack- she needs medicine. I need these bandages, too._

Alongside the notebook, she raised the bandages.

"I see," Klein nodded, raising a hand to his chin. "I'll be back in a moment."

Yang breathed a sigh of relief as he retreated into the back room. Klein Sieben was well-known throughout the town for his antics with certain patients- generally children, but he'd pull it on the occasional unpleasant customer as well- in which he'd shift through several different personalities, alongside a shift in eye color- Yang had never been able to tell whether this was his semblance, or if he was just really fast at changing contact lenses. She usually found them amusing, but now was _not_ the time. As she waited, she struggled to bring her speech under control.

"H-h-hotter than the s-s-sun in the m-m-middle of July... I b-burn... Hotter th-than the sun in the m-middle of July... I burn... Hotter than the sun in the middle of July... I burn..."

Repeating the phrase to herself like a mantra, she brought her breathing under control, and finally rediscovered her ability to speak- just in time for Klein to reappear.

"Here you go," he smiled at her, handing over Weiss's inhaler, filled back up.

"Th-thanks," Yang nodded- yup, the stammer was back, but at least she could _talk_ again. "H-how much d-do I-"

"Oh, think nothing of it," Klein raised his hands. "I'll just put it on Mr. Schnee's tab."

"I-is that alright?"

"He foots the bill for most of her medicine anyways," Klein waved aside. He closed his eyes, and in another second, they were red, as he whispered conspiratorially to her, "Besides, what's a little lien off the top every now and again to one of the richest men in the world?"

Yang allowed her mouth to twitch in a very _fast_ smile, then turned to dash off again, only for Klein to call out, "Wait!"

"Y-yes?" Yang asked, turning impatiently.

Klein's eyes had changed again, this time to blue. "Would you kindly tell Ms. Schnee..." he faltered for a moment, biting a lip beneath his rather prominent moustache. "...Good luck," he sighed with the air of someone who hadn't gotten out what they actually _wanted_ to say.

But Yang didn't have time to worry about that. "Of c-course," she let out one last stammer before dashing out, leaving Klein to close his eyes in guilt. He _hated_ having to so consistently lie to Weiss about her medicine, but with the wrath of someone as influential as Jacques Schnee hanging over his head, what else could he do?

XXXX

Yang rushed back, stuffing the inhaler and bandages into Weiss's purse as she remounted her bike and, with a quick grunt of effort, took off again.

 _So, where were we?_ came that voice in the back of her mind again. _Oh, yes, last May, wasn't it?_

 _Shut up. Nothing happened. Nothing happened!_

 _Are you sure? Because as_ I _recall..._

XXXX

The first incident in Ruby's room had very nearly traumatized Yang- it was almost six months before she worked up the nerve to return to Ruby's room. Part of her wanted to, to see, once and for all, that there _was_ no blood, to verify that _nothing_ had happened, but those memories kept her out.

In the meantime, there were many days that saw her dragging her friends out after school or on weekends to search for Ruby. Deep down, she remained confident that her sister was out there somewhere- in the woods, perhaps, or somewhere in town. Nothing that anyone else said was enough to convince her otherwise. When other children began disappearing, it only fueled her convictions that a serial kidnapper had come to Vale- after all, if it were a killer, there would be bodies, no? No bodies, especially after this many disappearances, meant it was a kidnapper, meant Ruby was still alive somewhere. Flawless logic, and she intended to _find_ this bastard, kick his _teeth_ in, and get her sister back.

She knew that Blake, at least, considered it a pointless venture- it was written into her eyes every time- she, too, believed that Ruby was dead somewhere, to which Yang's only response was, "Then show me the _body_!"

Nora, she was less certain about- the girl dove into the search with enthusiasm, but then, she dove into just about _everything_ with enthusiasm, so that was to be expected. The orange-haired ballistic missile was difficult to get a read on- did she really believe Ruby was out there somewhere, or was she just humoring her friend?

The only one Yang was certain believed her was Weiss- and maybe she shouldn't be surprised about that. Weiss and Ruby had gotten particularly close over the year or so they'd known each other. Ruby had always been excited to see all of her friends, but had expressed particular joy whenever Weiss could join them, and great disappointment when 'familial duties,' as Weiss put it, prevented her from doing so. As for Weiss, she was better at keeping it down, but it hadn't escaped Yang's notice that Weiss's general first sentence upon arriving at her house was "Is Ruby here today?" Perhaps it really wasn't all that surprising that she was so willing to put her resources into helping them find the lost girl.

But they never did. No matter how hard they searched, they could find neither hide nor hair of Ruby _or_ of the many, many other children that had vanished in the meantime.

XXXX

It was one rainy day in May that Yang had finally worked up the courage to reenter her sister's room. The consistent lack of results was starting to get to her- Blake was as unconfident as ever, and even Nora's enthusiasm and Weiss's dedication were beginning to wear thin. Dark thoughts were beginning to nag at Yang's mind- what if her sister really _was_ gone for good?

 _No,_ she was struggling to stand firm. _No, she's out there somewhere. If_ I _give up on her, who will she have left?_

Desperate to shut those thoughts down, she committed herself to finally returning to Ruby's room- to finally assure herself that the last incident had been a hallucination, and to remind herself what she was fighting for.

Night had fallen, and she was laying in bed when she finally worked up the nerve. She rose to her feet and quietly moved down the hall- there was no _telling_ how her father would react to this. He may see it as her opening old wounds again, and whether he saw it that way or not, she had no doubts that seeing her in the room _would_ open the wounds he was struggling to heal. No, best to leave him in bed.

She had tiptoed into her sister's room, just as red as ever, before silently moving to where she'd dropped the tome.

It was bone-dry, and absolutely stainless.

The slightest sigh of relief escaped her lips before she turned to the bookshelf. She approached it, pulling down the album, which was equally clean of any liquid or stain. She opened up to the page detailing Ruby's yearbook photo.

Absolutely normal, eyes staring vacantly up at the ceiling.

Yang sighed- on the one hand, it wasn't moving anymore, but on the other, it was just further reminding that this was all she had left of her sister- a picture in a photo, her room, her-

There was someone in the hallway. Yang cocked her head up- she'd seen movement out of the corner of her eye, and she didn't think it was her father. Her breath caught in her throat. She gently lowered the album onto the bed, allowing it to touch down without noise before once more rising to her feet. She moved silently for an entirely different reason this time, one step after the next into the hallway, where she reached into a nearby closet, grabbing the first long, solid object she could find. She pulled it out, revealing a black walking stick, a good few feet long, ending in a silver-ish handle, a white knob at the end, and gold-colored gears embedded into the sides. She examined it intently, only to be distracted by faint footsteps downstairs.

Down the stairs she went, silently as she could go, cane at the ready, just in case. She entered the living room, turned... and dropped the cane.

Across the living room, dashing into the kitchen, was a very small figure- a very _familiar_ figure, garbed in a long, red cloak.

"Ruby?" she gasped. She didn't even stop to pick up the cane again before dashing after her- she was heading for the basement. "Ruby!"

As she mounted the stairs into the basement, she reached out to turn on the lights, only for them to flicker and die. Not that it mattered- she could hear a distant, stifled sniffling sound, but there was _no_ mistaking that voice.

She only froze when she saw that the basement had somehow become flooded- water rose at least a foot off the ground, drowning even the bottom few stairs. Nonetheless, she went to the lowest stair she could manage, before looking across to the corner, where she could see a short, red-cloak-wearing figure hunched over and turned away from her.

"Ruby?" she called out gently.

"You didn't come," came a voice that was unmistakably Ruby's. the figure turned, revealing her sister in the flesh- her hair, her clothes, her large silver eyes. "I waited for so long, Yang, but you didn't come!"

Yang froze, her hand tightened on the railing. "I looked, Rubes... I've b-been l-l-looking ever s-s-since you d-d-d...disappeared." She was finding it harder to speak the longer she remained down here.

Ruby looked sadly up at her. "I lost our boat, Yang- I thought you'd be so angry..."

Yang's breath caught in her throat. "I- I would n- _never_ be mad at you," she forced out, tears starting to come to her eyes once more.

Ruby cast her eyes away slightly, throwing a sad look at the basement's opposite wall. "I- I can't stay, Yang... the lady's coming for me."

"The l-lady?" Yang choked out, feet starting to carry her closer to the water's edge. " _What_ lady?"

"The ice cream lady," Ruby looked back at her. "She gave me some ice cream, then led me to another world." A smile began to grow on Ruby's face. "Things are much better there. Will you come back with me, Yang? The lady is so wonderful, and she lets us all eat ice cream every day. We're so much happier there- and you'll be, too!"

Yang stared, shaking her head as her sister advanced with that speech, until she got to the end, only to continue- "You'll be, too! You'll be, too! You'll be, too!"

Yang's eyes began to widen- Ruby was smiling widely- but her smile just kept getting wider- and wider- and wider, far past the point of possibility. Her teeth suddenly began to rot away, and an odd sort of disease began to spread across her face, her eyes turning black in her skull, and still she continued chanting, "You'll be, too! _You'll be, too!_ YOU'LL BE, TOO!"

Yang broke her eyes away from the horrifying sight, only to spot something else.

There was a third person in the basement.

Rising up from the water behind Ruby, her arm raised behind the girl, seemingly clutching at her back, was another woman, absolutely drenched, causing her brown shirt and encompassing white coat to cling to her skin. Her visible hand was dressed in a similarly-soaking black glove, and, as she continued to rise, she revealed black pants and tall, white boots. Her hair was of two vastly different colors, bright pink and dark chocolate, all of it plastered around her face by the water, just barely failing to conceal her eyes, each a different color in their own right.

"YOU'LL BE, TOO! YOU'LL BE, TOO!"

Yang realized it was no longer Ruby screaming that mantra- her mouth had rotted away so thoroughly that it couldn't be. Instead, it was this new woman, but her voice was still nigh identical to her sister's. The woman was continuing the shout, even as she smiled a truly nasty smile through teeth that, Yang realized with a jolt, were beginning to grow long, and pointed-

No sooner had she made this observation than the other woman _moved._ In the blink of an eye, she was rushing across the basement, missing Yang by less than a second. Yang did the only thing that made sense- she sprinted back upstairs, slamming the door shut behind her, before turning and running headlong into her father, appearing in the kitchen at just the right moment to catch her.

"What is it, what's going on?"

"The basement!" Yang cried, panic in her voice. "In the b-basement, there's a-a-a..."

Taiyang looked up, eyes narrowed, before reopening the door and heading down before Yang had the chance to beg him not to.

She froze, hearing water slop around as her father presumably waded through it, prepared to rush in if she heard that- that _thing_ try to attack him...

But nothing happened. A moment later, Taiyang reappeared at the top, the lower legs of his jeans soaked, but shaking his head. "Nothing there, sweetie. Are you sure you weren't seeing things?"

An icicle seemed to pierce Yang's heart, recalling the incident back in November. "B-but I-I- th-the _water..."_

"Bone dry," Taiyang shrugged, heedless to the squishing of his socks as he walked around her. "We really need to get you back into that therapist..."

Yang closed her eyes and struggled in more ways than one to say one final sentence- "I-I s-s-saw... R-R-Ruby."

Taiyang froze, his hand on the doorway to the living room, his head bowed. A sigh escaped his lips. "You need to move on, Yang," he muttered gently. "We both need to move on. We have to face facts. Ruby's _gone,_ Yang, and she's not coming back."

Yang's terror began to ebb away, replaced with anger. "She is _not_ gone!" she shouted, heedless to her eyes turning red. "She's _out there_ somewhere! If we give up on her, _then_ she'll be lost!"

"She is _already lost,_ Yang!" Taiyang shouted back, turning to face her. "And you can't keep doing this! You have to move on- live your own life! We can't just keep waiting for her to come back!" His voice started to lower. "You keep on going like this, and you'll be the next one to disappear! I can't... I can't..."

Yang bit her tongue, tears returning to eyes that were fading back to amethyst- abruptly, she remembered she was talking to a man who'd lost his wife, then a second... and now a daughter.

"Dad, I'm sorry..."

Taiyang raised a hand, turning away again. "Ruby is gone, and nothing we do can change it. All we can do now... is live the way she'd have wanted us to..."

He continued to gaze into the living room. "Get some sleep, Yang," he muttered softly again, before walking away, back up the stairs.

XXXX

Once more, Yang forced herself out of her memories, bringing her focus onto the road in front of her. She was crossing the bridge again- she looked to see the other girl still crouched over Weiss. Enough lurking on the past- when she was on Bumblebee, she moved forward. And doing that started with saving Weiss. "Your savior has arrived!" she called out, forcing a smile as she dismounted Bumblebee, dashing down the hill with Weiss's medicine and the other girl's bandages in tow.

 _XXXX_

Another chapter wrapped up for now. Nice to finally be moving into the events of the story, I imagine- which, of course, means that the next chapter needs to be a quick interlude, of sorts. Still following the story, but not necessarily the main characters. We'll get there- though it might be next week before that happens. Either way, in the meantime, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	14. Coco Adel Seeks the Truth (C)

Gamer4 in. And now for something completely different- except not really. I don't know what I'm talking about- I should really stop writing notes that clash drastically with the tone of the story itself. I suppose the chapter number is appropriate, if nothing else. Either way, moving on.

Disclaimer: Don't want to hear about your absolution- hope you're ready for a revolution! Welcome to the world of dissolution- welcome to the world of bloody evolution!

Chapter XIII

Coco Adel Seeks the Truth

Later that night, as the town of Vale drifted off into a rather uneasy sleep, a pulse seemed to go across it. Very few actually sensed it, and, if pressed later, they'd have no idea what their questioner was talking about. Nonetheless, it remains a fact that, an hour or two after the sun sank below the horizon, the three girls from beside the river- Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, and Pyrrha Nikos- along with a handful of others abruptly looked up from what they were doing- whether it was watching tv, reading, or even sleeping- and gazed around as a sudden uneasiness took them. After a moment or two, the feeling passed, and they returned to their previous activities as though nothing had happened- Weiss continued reading, Yang returned to her television, and far on the other side of town, Jaune Arc rolled over and continued with his nighttime nap.

But something _had_ happened- though it would take most of the town much longer to realize it.

XXXX

Coco Adel was not a patient girl by nature, but for the benefit of her best friend's brother, she attempted to don that mask nonetheless. "I'm sorry to bring up bad memories, but I want to find Velvet as much as you do. I need to know if she said or did anything in the last couple weeks that was unusual."

When Alex Scarlatina began to slowly shake his head, Coco mentally sighed.

She had been friends with Alex's older sister, Velvet Scarlatina, ever since they'd met in their first year at Beacon High- during their seventh grade. Coco, as things transpired, had met Velvet in much the same way Pyrrha would five years later- defending her from a bully mocking her for the rabbit ears that sprouted from her head. It had not been Team CRDL- a group that would not form for another three years yet- but describing them as the forerunners of the now infamous group would be more than fair.

Upon seeing what was happening- the leader of the gang had been pulling on her ears as the others hopped around in crude imitations of rabbits- she rushed to the girl's aid without a second thought, taking the purse she carried with her at all times and applying it generously to their faces. This was followed by a trip to the Headmaster's office for all of the above, where she'd received a week of detention- a slap on the wrist compared to the punishment laid upon the bullies. Coco did not regret her actions, especially when she'd left the office to find Velvet waiting outside for her.

"Th-thank you for the help." The girl had bowed slightly to her. "My- my name is Velvet Scarlatina."

"Coco Adel," Coco had introduced herself in turn. "Don't worry about it- those freaks give you any more trouble, you just come to me, okay?"

"O-okay," Velvet returned with a weak smile.

"Don't worry about it!" Coco had repeated, giving the rabbit girl a light thump on the back.

As it had turned out, Velvet never had to go to Velvet for anything- because the two of them spent so much time together in the next five years that it became redundant. Anytime someone _did_ get it into their heads to pick on the seemingly weak-willed faunus girl, there Coco would be, steering them away with a glare, or a purse to the head if that wasn't enough. A few weeks of detention later, and she had pretty successfully communicated the message across the school that Velvet was off-limits.

There were some exceptions every now and again- the odd moment where their schedules diverged enough to keep Coco from her seemingly eternal vigil- even then, her reputation seemed enough to stave off most ill-wishers. One of the few exceptions in recent memory had been early on in the school year, just before winter set in, when Coco had been serving a detention during lunch. She found out later that Cardin Winchester, whom she'd generally paid little mind to before, had cornered Velvet during that time and set about his usual shenanigans.

"That little bastard!" Coco had growled when Velvet told him. "Just a second, Velvet, I've gotta go and-"

"No, no, don't worry about it!" Velvet had interjected, waving her hands in front of her friend. "Someone else came to help- Pyrrha Nikos!"

"Pyrrha- isn't she that fat girl in freshman year?"

"Well, yes... but I don't think you should-"

"I'm not making fun of her," Coco shrugged off. "Anyone who stands up to those bastards is alright in my book. But still-"

"It's already taken care of," Velvet repeated firmly. "There's no need for you to get another week of detention over this."

"Alright, alright," Coco had sighed dramatically, before flashing a little smile at her friend. "You can actually be pretty pushy when you want to be, you know that?"

Velvet had responded with her usual sunny smile- a smile that fate so often conspired to keep from her face for all except Coco.

That had been the last time she'd seen it.

"Please," Coco repeated to Alex, desperate for _anything_ to help her in her search. "I know she didn't say anything to _me,_ but you're her brother- if she was trying to keep anything hidden, maybe you're the one who'd know it."

"I'm her brother," Alex scoffed ruefully, "but believe me, nobody in this house ever got to know her better than you."

Coco sighed, rubbing her forehead over her designer glasses. Perhaps Alex was right- as time had gone on, Velvet had started spending more and more time with Coco in _and_ out of school, until Coco's parents half-jokingly asked if they should just convert their guest room into the Velvet Room- a quip that Coco had responded to by suggesting they drape it all in blue and keep a stack of tarot cards handy. Nonetheless, the point stood that it soon seemed Velvet was, indeed, spending more time with Coco than with her own family.

In fact, she had been planning on staying with Coco the night she disappeared as well. When she didn't show up, Coco didn't originally think anything of it- it seemed fairly likely her parents had simply called her back- perhaps they had plans with their daughter that had slipped her mind earlier that day. When Velvet had failed to turn up that day at school, Coco had begun to grow nervous, the thought of the two or three disappearances over the past couple of months weighing heavily on her mind.

When she had returned home to find her parents asking her if _she'd_ seen Velvet, her fears seemed entirely confirmed.

As Coco understood it, Velvet had left her house that evening, just as planned, setting out across the two or three streets that separated their houses. Quite obviously, she had never arrived, nor had anyone seen any sign of her since. The police had searched- oh, yes, they'd searched alright. But never was any sign of the girl or the pack she'd brought with her ever found.

Coco had been devastated- for several months, her performance in school began to slip, which, considering it was their senior year, drew great concern from her teachers and parents alike. They attempted to talk her through it in hopes of helping her get her life back together, but they didn't seem to understand just what was troubling her so deeply. It was more than a friend she'd lost that day- more than they could ever understand.

"Please," Coco repeated once more, trying to put all of her desperate _need_ into her voice, to communicate to Alex just how serious and passionate she was about discovering the truth- about discovering what had truly happened to Velvet. " _Please-_ if there is anything- _anything_ \- she said or did, no matter how small... tell me."

Alex looked around, but his parents weren't home at the moment- which had itself been part of the reason Coco chose that night to question him. The fewer adults getting in her way trying to get her to call off her investigation, the better.

Alex looked at her, sadness in her eyes, and she had to stop to remind herself that he must be feeling the effects of Velvet's disappearance as well. "I... I guess... I guess she said something about a man a couple times?"

"A man? What kind of man?" Coco's mind immediately roared into life, wondering _how_ Alex could have failed to mention this before.

Alex sighed. "A tall man... without a face."

Coco's heart sank. So _that_ was why he'd failed to mention it. "I see," she muttered disappointedly.

"I just figured she'd been watching Plaster Mosquitoes or Clan Five," Alex muttered at the floor, where his eyes were now directed, rubbing the back of his own head.

"She was," Coco agreed. "We watched them over at my place. She really liked Clan Five, even if she wouldn't admit it. Harder to tell with Plaster Mosquitoes."

Visions flashed through Coco's mind of watching some of the self-styled 'scariest series on DustTube' with Velvet, laughing all the way through, even when- _especially_ when- Velvet let out those adorable cries of hers and pressed her face further into her shoulder.

The corner of Alex's mouth twitched. "She didn't seem like it most of the time, but she loved herself a good ghost story," he whispered. Coco nodded- for all her squealing and protesting, Velvet very obviously _did_ enjoy the experiences as much as she herself did.

Coco sighed, rising to her feet. "Well, if that's it... I guess I should go."

"I'm sorry," Alex muttered, also standing. "I get that you're really set on finding her, but..."

Coco said nothing. Alex looked her in the eye. "Just remember- you didn't just lose a girlfriend that night- I lost a sister."

Coco nodded, her lips pursed, glad that her glasses hid the welling up in her eyes. "I really should be going."

Alex held out a hand. "Wait- I can make you some coffee if you like. To say sorry."

Coco stopped, hand on the door to the outside world. "You have nothing to apologize for." Without a further word, she left the house, unwilling to admit the real reason she was so swift to leave- she didn't want him to see her cry.

XXXX

On the outside, Coco removed her glasses and looked up at the stars that were beginning to appear over Vale.

"Why did you protect me that day?" spoke a voice through the years- Coco could practically _see_ herself and Velvet lying down in that patch of grass beneath a tree. Coco had made a fuss about getting her clothing dirty, to which Velvet had laughed and pulled her down anyways. _If I can sit through Plaster Mosquitoes, you can lay down in your fancy designer jacket!_

"What d'ya mean?" Coco had asked, pointedly glancing away in search of the Big Dipper.

"I mean- you're one of the most popular girls in school," Velvet pointed out. "They were never going to pick on _you_ \- you didn't _need_ to save me... but you did."

Coco casually looked back at her. "Well... I guess I just really hate people like that," she shrugged. "Hating other people because of what they are- it's ridiculous. Besides, my Dad always had a saying- 'For evil to win, all it needs is for the good people to do nothing.' Of course, he was an actual _hero,_ so..."

"And you're _my_ hero," Velvet had said.

Coco did a double-take. "What was that?"

"Nothing!" Velvet had looked away with a furious blush on her cheeks, but Coco had smiled and wrapped an arm around her.

"Damn right I am," she muttered quietly. "And I'll always be there for you."

But she hadn't- Velvet had still disappeared. After all this time, Coco was finally starting an investigation of her own, but after all this time, leads were thin on the ground, and the hope of Velvet still being alive... even more so.

"I miss you, Vel..." Coco muttered as she continued down the dark street, as the lights finally began to flicker on.

"I miss you too, Coco..."

Coco spun around, looking at the houses around her. She could _swear_ she'd just heard a voice speaking out of the darkness, just out of sight of the nearby streetlight. A voice, moreover, that she knew just about as well as her own. "V-Velvet?" she asked into the shadows, approaching the area she thought the voice had emanated from.

She moved slowly, and saw a minute amount of motion behind a nearby bush. She moved slowly, before brushing it aside to reveal the face of Velvet Scarlatina, crouched over and gazing up at her.

"Velvet!" she gasped. "How- what- what's going on?!"

Velvet smiled up at her- a sad smile that hardly seemed to resemble her at all. "H-how long has it been, Coco?"

"...Six months," Coco recalled, tears starting to come back to her eyes. "It's been six months since you..." She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.

"Six months?" Velvet asked, tilting her head, as if in confusion. "Such a short time... so little time..."

"Come on, Velvet!" Coco reached down, moving to help lift her. "We have to get you home- or to the hospital." She added this last after seeing just how... _sickly_ Velvet seemed. Her skin was unhealthily pasty, her eyes had rings and bags around and beneath them, the eyes themselves were bloodshot, and still Velvet kept crouching.

"I'm not coming with you, Coco." Velvet pulled away as she spoke, further into the brush. "I'm not sure I can, and even if I could, I wouldn't want to leave him..."

"Leave who?" Coco asked, attempting to approach, only for Velvet to draw away again. "Velvet, _who_?"

"The Man," Velvet said, and a dark smile seemed to cross her face- the least Velvet-like smile Coco had ever seen. "The Man found me, the Man took me to a better place. He asked me if there was anyone else I wanted to take with me... and of course, it had to be you."

Coco's heart leapt as Velvet steadily rose to her feet, revealing two things.

First, her left arm was missing.

Second, her remaining arm was holding a foot-long knife.

Velvet swung, leaving a long gash in one of Coco's arms.

Coco screamed.

Velvet gave another lopsided smile. "Please don't struggle," she said in her usual pleasant voice. "The sooner we get this over-with, the sooner you can join us."

Coco staggered backwards, one hand clutching her arm as the pain from the slash coursed through it.

Velvet's face was changing. At first, Coco thought her eyes were sinking further into her skull, but she eventually realized a mask was appearing on her face- a deeply disturbing mask with blacked-out eyes, arching eyebrows, and dark lips.

She continued forwards, knife at the ready, and despite it being the last thing she wanted to do, Coco turned and _ran._

At first, she payed no attention to where she was going. After a moment, the thought occurred that running off blindly might just be the _worst_ thing to do right now, slowing herself down to see if she could piece together where, exactly, she was, keeping an eye out for Velvet all the while.

She looked up to find herself near _From Dust 'Til Dawn_ , the local general store. She momentarily entertained the idea of entering and finding someone to help- but the store was dark and closed. "Shit!" she cursed, turning around-

To see the Man.

Her mind immediately rejected the idea outright- there was no way she was seeing what she was seeing. There was _not_ a man in front of her, standing at _least_ eight feet tall. His arms were _not_ draping all the way to the ground, and his face was _not_ simply a smooth, white expanse of flesh. It wasn't true- it was simply not possible.

She turned to run again, making it as far as a grassy field when the thought occurred to her- even if it very obviously _wasn't_ the Slender Man behind her, it could very well be a man dressed up like that- perhaps even the same man who'd kidnaped Velvet and... done something to her to lead to her being in the state she was in. She spun around to find the Man standing stock-still... right behind her. She glared up at the face, convinced it was just a mask. "What did you do to her?" she growled. "What did you do to _Velvet?!_ "

Her heart practically stopped when tentacles appeared behind the Man's back, sprouting, flailing, and stretching towards her, almost hungry as they began to wrap around her. She immediately began fighting, struggling against the appendages clinging to her likes rope. She struck her captor across the face- to no effect. The... lack of face continued to stare at her, perhaps tilting to the side a bit. Some part of Coco's mind was still struggling to rationalize all this, work out how this illusion was being created.

Then one of the tentacles began to hover in front of her, slowly approaching her chest, just over her collarbone. Despite all her struggles, it pierced her skin, and began to drag down, creating an incision within her more precise than the greatest surgeon with the finest scalpel.

Coco's last thoughts, as she began to bleed out from her chest being carved open, was that it didn't truly matter. Whether this... _thing_ was really _the_ Slender Man, or just a man in a mask, it was very clearly real enough to kill her.

 _XXXX_

Please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	15. Lie Ren Finds a Clue (C)

Gamer4 in. I am actually rewriting this intro because the one I had written up previously doesn't really apply anymore- kind of a long story, one that I don't prefer to go into with a daddy longleg hanging over my head. I will thus proceed to whimper profusely as I type out this chapter- please enjoy.

Disclaimer: In time, your heart will open minds, your story will be told, and victory is in a simple soul!

Chapter XIV

Lie Ren Finds a Clue

The morning air was pleasantly cool on Ren's face when he awoke that morning. The previous night had been remarkably warm, and as such, he'd left his window open when he'd gone to bed in hopes of ushering in a nice, cooling breeze. It was definitely a refreshing way to wake up, almost overriding the sense that he'd had a nightmare before it had happened. He couldn't quite recall what it was about, only the lurking sense of dread he supposed he must have felt during it.

He glanced out his window and smiled at the rolling fields surrounding the Ren household at the edge of Vale. While they certainly lived close enough to the town to be considered residents, they were also far enough away to not have many noisy neighbors, generally nice and quiet nights, and plenty of room for his parents to farm. It got a little lonely at times, but then, he and his parents were close enough that he never felt _too_ isolated.

"Ah, good, you're up," came a voice behind him. He turned to see his father, Li Ren, standing in the doorway. "I need you to go into town and pick some things up from the store."

"Of course," Lie nodded back respectfully.

"I left the list on the kitchen counter," Li further instructed, turning around to head back downstairs.

"Is there anything else?"

"Not today," Li shrugged before descending the steps.

Ren quirked a brow- usually, whenever his father sent him out on chores, he'd have some secondary task for his son to complete. The main chore, as his father put it, was one of necessity- the other tasks he delivered, as he explained, were more of culture. Not jobs to assist the family in general, but to help in Ren's growth as a person. Jobs to teach him discipline, help him learn more about the town in which they resided, or its history- things more intangible than picking up groceries or helping to plow the fields.

Nonetheless, the absence of such a secondary task was nothing too unusual either- certainly deserving of no more comment than that quirk of his brow. He shrugged, and set about getting dressed. A few moments later, he set out for the main township of Vale on his bike, list in hand and bags draped over the handlebars.

The air was brisk as he pedaled, buildings eventually rising into sight up ahead. Soon, he mused, the sun would rise and brighten up the area, dissipating the fog that the early morning had laid over the land, loosening the night's last clutches and bringing things fully into the light of day. A beautiful thing, as much as he didn't care for the heat all that much- the hottest days of summer were often as brutal as the chills of winter were cruel.

Even as he entered into Central Vale, things were still rather quiet this early in the morning- his father was no doubt happy to see him ready to go this early, as he could easily avoid the crowds that the later day would bring. He made his way to the largest store in the area, _From Dust 'Til Dawn._ Glancing at his list again, he judged that, if he was lucky, he ought to be able to pick up everything at this location and be back home before the sun had gotten too high in the sky.

He brought his bike to a stop, lowered the kickstand, and hopped off. He was on his way across the grassy lawn nearby the store when he spotted something glinting in the grass. He paused, turning and kneeling down to examine it.

Laying on the ground, slightly dampened by dew, he spied a small cylinder, lying next to what appeared to be an open notebook. He bent down curiously, reaching out to pick up the cylinder.

As nondescript as they were, something about these objects drew him to them, something nagging at the back of his mind as he moved closer. The moment his finger made contact with the cylinder, a sudden onslaught of memory burst into his mind, causing him to stagger backward.

XXXX

"...and the next summer, when other colonists arrived, all they could find was a knife stuck in a table in town hall, right next to these words, carved into the wood- _God is in Heaven, all is right with the world._ "

Ren concluded his presentation, turning to the rest of his history class, mostly staring open-mouthed at his speech on the founders of Vale. At long last, it was up to the teacher, Professor Port, to intervene. "Well, thank you very much for that interesting take on our founding, Mr. Ren. So, class, let's-"

Abruptly, as was such a common occurrence in Port's class, the bell rang, cutting the bushy-moustached man off mid-sentence. "Hmm... timed wrong again," he grumbled under one finger. "Well, then, no homework tonight- away with you all!"

Ren was in the middle of returning his papers to his backpack when Port approached him. "A word with you, my boy, if I may?"

"Of course," Ren inclined his head slightly, respectfully.

"I see you took my advice deeply to heart, Mr. Ren."

"Indeed- the books you pointed me to were a great help. Thank you very much."

"Yes, yes..." Port nodded, fingers on his chin. "Are you drawing any closer to a conclusion to this little... side project of yours?"

"Not as of yet," Ren shook his head. "This town has a lot of history to go through, after all."

"That it does, my boy, that it does," Port agreed.

Ever since that talk at Autumn Bridge, Ren had been furthering his investigation into the shadow that seemed to lurk over Vale, taking down pages and pages of notes about past events that had occurred in the town, from its founding all the way up to the spate of disappearances that was going on that very year.

"I feel like there's an answer right in front of me- but I'm missing a few crucial pieces that will make it all fit," Ren related.

"And has it occurred to you, my boy, that there's simply nothing to find?" Port suggested.

Ren blinked in slight surprise. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean, sir."

"As you say, Vale has a very rich history, dating back hundreds of years. Who is to say there is one answer for everything in this town at all? The founders, Menagerie, that rather unfortunate incident at the Ellis Hotel... are you so certain there is a common thread between them?"

"Perhaps not between them all," Ren conceded, "but there are certainly unanswered questions. I can't help but feel there's some form of commonality- after all, even for a town with this much history, this level of incidents seems... unusual."

"Well, if that is your hypothesis, I have no reason to stop you from investigating," Port relented. "I have always said that the pursuit of knowledge is an admirable thing... but don't let this investigation take hold of your entire life, hm?"

"...?"

"You're a young man, now, Mr. Ren, and there is more out there than mysteries of ancient people most have long forgotten. Again, if you choose to pursue those mysteries, I will not stop you, but don't forget to live a life outside of them as well, okay?"

"I understand, sir," Ren bowed slightly. "Now, if I may go now...? My father had something he wanted me to do."

"Oh, of course!" Port ceded immediately. "If your father has set you task, don't let an old man's ramblings keep you!"

Ren gave one last respectful nod, then hurried out the door.

It wasn't _entirely_ a lie, he reflected. His father _had_ given him a job to do that day- one of his 'cultural' jobs, as he so often put it.

It was a relatively common occurrence for his father to pull him aside, either at night or right before he left for school in the morning. "Yes, Father?"

"Before you come home from school tomorrow," he'd say, "I have a job I'd like you to do for me."

The jobs often seemed strange at first, only for their true meaning to become more apparent later. One day, he'd ordered his son to follow the Haven River and bring him a rock from its bed. That night, he'd mused about the rock's history, weaving a story about how it had soared across the heavens, making its way through the cosmos before eventually arriving on earth, where circumstances had conspired to push it into that very river, where eventually, Ren would arrive and be drawn to that very rock that now stood prominently atop the fireplace, a reminder that everything, no matter how small or seemingly mundane, had a long, rich story behind it.

The night before Ren's presentation, his father had approached him about his after-school activities. "You've been coming home late recently," he'd observed, and indeed, Ren was an hour or so later that very night than was the norm.

"I've been at the library," Ren explained truthfully- he had been in and out of the library quite a bit lately, searching for more information tucked away in the nooks and crannies of Vale's past.

"For a school project?" his father guessed.

"No, I've been- I've been researching Vale's history." Ren closed his eyes, wondering if a reprimand was imminent.

None came. He opened his eyes to see his father looking thoughtful, a finger raised to cover his chin, mouth, and lower nose. "I see." Eventually, he seemed to come to a decision. "No chores tomorrow, Lie."

"You have a job?" Ren asked, somewhat redundantly- his father only repealed his chores when he had a 'cultural job' for him.

"Correct," Li nodded. "Instead of going to the library, I want you to go to the ruins of the Ellis Hotel. Explore it a bit and bring back a souvenir- anything will do."

Ren thought he had an idea where his father was going with this, but didn't bother asking any questions. As his father said whenever he bothered questioning these 'cultural jobs' of his, _All will be revealed in good time._

Later that night, Li Ren had gathered his son and his wife, An, and prepared to tell them a story.

"You must be in a good mood tonight," An had smiled at him, lying down to his right, as Lie sat down to his right, leaning gently against him.

"In a way," Li nodded, wrapping one arm each around his loved ones. "Tonight, the story of a hero, and his hunt for the fearsome monster of Anima..."

Lie closed his eyes, and allowed his father's words to weave themselves into images in his head, painting pictures of the vast land being terrorized by a creature of darkness, and the brave heroes who eventually rose to stand against it.

XXXX

The next day, after delivering his presentation to his history class, and the subsequent chat with Port, Ren did, indeed, set out for the opposite edge of Vale. Much like his own house, it was near the outskirts of town, very few houses in sight. But where Ren's house was surrounded by a farm, and rolling fields and, eventually, lush green beyond that, the area surrounding what was left of the Ellis Hotel could charitably be called wasteland. Any plant life was mostly weeds, along the occasional tuft of grass that still seemed charred by what had taken place there long ago, poking through cracks in what had, so many decades ago, been a thriving sidewalk.

Standing there, like a lone sentinel, had been the Ellis Hotel, a bright star in Beacon's history, grand and luxurious, bringing fame to the town that it had been in desperate need of- until a boiler failed, exploded, and destroyed the entire building. It was difficult to say who was truly at fault for the error, especially as it had transpired so long ago, but the end result was the same- everyone in the building at the time, including almost ninety guests and two dozen staff members, had been killed.

Looking at what was left- a hole in the ground leading into what must have been the cellar before the destruction- Ren felt as though he was intruding upon sacred ground. He treaded lightly, memories of his research echoing through his head- not all the bodies had been recovered. How would it be, he thought, if he turned over a fallen slab of cement to discover a skeleton that had been missed all this time? What if (his imagination was beginning to run wild now, painting impossible pictures,) he stumbled upon a still-decaying corpse, though any bodies from the explosion ought to be dust by now?

His father's words echoed in his ears- _Explore it a bit and bring back a souvenir. Anything will do._ It would be all too easy to pick up a nearby rock and leave right now, making his way back across town and returning to the farm. His father had set no parameters, after all, on what he ought to bring back. But he thought, as long as he was here, he should at least stay _somewhat_ true to the spirit of the order. Besides, after seeing this place only in faded black-and-white for so long, something about actually being here, in the flesh, was compelling him to draw closer... closer... closer...

He knelt at the edge of the hole, peering in. There wasn't much to see- everything had been destroyed, either in the initial blast or in the intervening eighty or so years. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied what must have been a set of stairs at one point, but time had been harsh to it, whittling them away until it was more of a concrete ramp, nothing left of the steps but slight bumps where they had once stood.

He moved slowly over to it, unable to shake the feeling of trespass upon hallowed ground. Down he went, ready to turn back at a moment's notice, but the ramp held. He approached one of the still-standing walls, across which deep cracks were running, as though it had begun to fragment, but not quite finished the job. He reached out and, with a slight, sharp tug, broke one of these fragments away from the rest, turning it and examining it in his hand. It would do. He turned around, fully ready to set off back for home, when he heard an odd sound behind him- it sounded like a horse's grunt, somehow mixed with the hiss of a snake.

Brushing it off as a figment of his imagination- especially in this place- he continued towards the ramp, until the sound was replaced by a harsh cry.

Halfway up the ramp, he turned around, and immediately wished he hadn't.

On the other side of the fissure in the earth representing all that was left of the hotel was a creature- a creature from his darkest nightmares. On the ground was what seemed, at first glance, to be a horse- a horse with decaying black flesh, as though it had recently risen from the dead. Ribs poked out of its skin, its eyes were a fiery red, and most of its skull was exposed to the light of day.

This was not the end to the creature. Atop the horse was a humanoid figure- or, perhaps 'atop' isn't the best word. The figure did not seem to be _astride_ the horse, but rather, its lower legs seemed to melt _into_ it, as if the figure and the horse were one and the same. The figure seemed to be in a similar state of decay, ribs showing, and raising the question of whether the bony face was a helmet made to look like a skull, or this monstrosity's _actual_ skull piercing through its flesh. Either way, from this figure's head protruded two spiraling curved horns, arching over its head, almost blending in with the many weapons protruding from its back- arrows, axes, spears- all the might of those whose lives it had claimed before, but who had never truly stood a chance against it once it turned its fiery gaze upon them.

Its mouth, at a glance, seemed sewn shut, but further inspection made it seem more that its upper lip was melting into its lower jaw. At its side, its arms draped all the way to the ground, ending in two large, pointed claws.

Ren knew what this creature was, even if he didn't believe it. His mind cast back to the previous night, the story his father had told. "But a nightmare existed in Anima, stealing across the land in the dead of night, bringing plague and famine in its wake. A creature that they named the Nuckelavee."

Three things happened in rapid succession- first, Ren's mind began running the gamut of usual reactions- disbelief, looking for other justifications for what he was seeing- a mirage or hallucination of some sort, surely-

Then the Nuckelavee let out that sharp, high-pitched screech again, and Ren ceased caring whether it was real or not, instead focusing on getting the hell _away_ from it.

He turned and sprinted up the remainder of the ramp in about two steps, before making a break across the wasteland for the nearest houses. Behind him, he could hear the monster breaking into a gallop, wasting no time in its pursuit.

He knew he couldn't outrun this thing- he was on foot, and it wasn't just _on_ a horse- in part, it _was_ a horse. He instead ducked behind the nearest house, and began weaving through the few buildings that there were this far from the town's center.

He could still hear the galloping, but as it followed him into the nest of housing, it began to slow. His eyes raked around desperately for a good hiding spot, but nothing jumped out at him. Eventually, he simply crouched at one house's corner, struggling to force back tears of dread and struggling to think of anything to help.

Once more, the words of his father came back to him. "Now, the Nuckelavee," he'd explained, "was a bizarre creature, tied to rules quite separate from our own. Despite having four eye sockets, it is entirely blind, sensing the world only through emotion. It was drawn to negative feelings- anger, fear, sorrow- and thus preyed upon those abundant in those emotions."

Immediately, Ren began to fight back his dread- he was suddenly certain it was the only way to hide, to escape this creature. He struggled to force back the tears, to swallow his terror.

Then, something unusual happened. A faint pink light faded into being around him, matching the color of his eyes. Steadily, his shaking hands began to steady, his heart rate slowed, and the tears ceased to fall. An abrupt calmness fell across him- he felt almost as if his father was standing beside him, patting him on the shoulder, assuring him that everything was going to be okay.

He looked down at his hands and saw the light, a dim understanding coming to him- was this his semblance?

He flinched back into hiding when he heard the sound of the Nuckelavee's footsteps drawing nearer, retreating back into his semblance's warm embrace, wiping all emotion from him, leaving only a calm serenity behind.

To his vast relief, the footsteps seemed to fade away, assuring him that his ploy had worked. Slowly, he began making tracks away from this area of town, desperate to return home and see his parents once more.

"Ren..."

He froze, and ducked behind yet another building, ready to embrace the calm effects of his semblance once more.

He turned and peeked out, seeing another figure walking down the street. Not the Nuckelavee- it was a woman. A short woman with multicolored hair, and though it was difficult to tell from this distance, he thought her eyes followed this pattern as well. One hand held a parasol in it, draped across her shoulders as she made her way down the street, eyes raking around, almost as if in frustration. If she _was_ frustrated, though, she gave no sign of it in her voice.

"The monster's gone, Ren," she seemed to coo, as if trying to coax him out. "Come out, and I'll help you find your way home."

As she drew closer, he pulled further away, eventually rounding the corner of the building, keeping one light magenta eye on her from a distance. He didn't know why he distrusted this woman so much, right out of hand- but something about her knowing his name, appearing right after the disappearance of the Nuckelavee, told him to keep away.

"Please, Ren?" came that coaxing voice again. "I have ice cream."

In the single eye he allowed from behind the corner, he spied her other hand, clenched around what seemed a large chocolate ice cream cone. Far from comforting him, he pulled further back behind his corner.

"Please, Ren?" she persisted. "Don't leave me out here, all alone..."

Ren moved cautiously, standing and beginning to walk away- one slow, steady foot at a time, desperate to make no noise at all, to not alert this bizarre woman to his presence. Ignoring the sound of her voice as she continued to ask after him, he put one foot after the other, carrying him further away, sticking to the shadows where he could, until her voice faded into the distance. Only then did he at last break into a sprint.

XXXX

Later that afternoon, he'd been almost inordinately relieved to see his front door, racing in almost fast enough to break it down.

"Glad to be home, I take it?" came his father's voice- he looked up to see him at the foot of the stairs, eyebrows raised at his sudden entrance.

His eyebrows only raised further when his son leapt around his neck, pulling him down into a vicelike hug. "I'm glad to see you too, son," he grunted under the abrupt weight. He carried him over to the nearby sofa and set his weight down on it. "Is something wrong?"

Ren opened his mouth, prepared to spill everything- only to stop. Now that he thought about it, it sounded crazy. Now that he was out of immediate danger, he was free to think on that point- did he really believe he'd been attacked by a monster out of one of his father's stories? A monster that had turned into or somehow been in cahoots with a woman who seemed like she'd stepped right out of his retelling of the night Menagerie had burned to the ground?

The further he'd raced from the incident, the less certain he was that it had been entirely real. And to bring it up to his father now just seemed...

"No, no, nothing's wrong," he decided. "That place just seemed... off..."

"I'd imagine," his father nodded, understanding coming over his eyes. "When places have a long history, those who are sensitive can often pick up on it. And you... you're a very sensitive boy. Did you at least get a souvenir?"

Ren jumped slightly, recalling the wall fragment, reaching into his pocket and producing it.

"A piece of the wall in the cellar," he explained, handing it over. His father took it, turning it over in his hands.

"Now _this_ is an object steeped in history," he nodded. "Do you know why I asked you to go out there, Lie?"

"I- I think I have an idea," Ren answered honestly.

"I'm sure you do," his father smiled down at him. "I understand your fascination with our town's history, son- it's very rich and colorful. I wasn't trying to talk you _out_ of your research, just to remind you that, as distant as it seemed, it is all very _real,_ and some of the consequences are still affecting us to this day."

"All the houses nearby are abandoned," Ren recalled.

"As you'd think near a site where something so terrible happened," his father nodded in understanding. "That said, your mother got angry at me when she found out what I told you to do. Perhaps I shouldn't have- perhaps I should have trusted that you were wise enough to understand this lesson for yourself."

Ren leaned into his father's shoulder, and felt his arm wrap around him in a tight grip. "It wasn't any trouble," he assured him, trying to force thoughts of the Nuckelavee and the woman with the ice cream from his mind. "It was a very... enlightening experience."

"And that's as I hoped," his father smiled, running a hand almost absentmindedly through his hair. "You're growing into a fine man, Lie. I just hope I'm there the day you do something to truly make us proud."

Ren smiled, glancing down at his hand- and a faint pink light. "I think I discovered my semblance today."

His father blinked, a smile crossing his face now, as well. "You don't say? Well, don't waste any time- tell me all the details!"

XXXX

He had gone on to weave a story quite different to what actually happened to account for his semblance's awakening- a story much duller, but much more grounded in reality. That night, he'd gone to sleep quite comfortably, as though his mind itself had decided to file the whole incident away as a nightmare or hallucination of some sort.

So why it was coming back so vividly to him this morning, at the touch of this small cylinder, was baffling to him.

Shaking it all aside, he reached out and picked up the notebook first this time, flipping through the mostly-blank pages. Following this, he picked up the cylinder, which he finally recognized as a tube of lipstick. Both the inside of the notebook's front cover and the side of the lipstick tube had the same name printed on them- _Coco Adel._ He tucked them away into his pockets, half-formed ideas of how to find this girl and return her items to her already fading away as he entered the store in search of the items his father had ordered.

 _XXXX_

For those of you getting fed up with my own non-inventions taking shape in this story, I give you the first form of It taken from RWBY itself- aside from Neo _her_ self, of course. Not sure if that was actually an issue for anybody, but hey, if it was, it's been rectified now. To let me know one way or another, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	16. Weiss Schnee Tells a Story (C)

Gamer4 in, and it is _great_ to see rain again- it's been a very dry summer over here. Not much to pad the notes out with today- short of a brief disclaimer (didn't think you'd see another one of those, did you?) Particularly since this is another chapter that I'm going into thinking it'll be longer than usual, but will probably be one of the shortest by the end, let's just go ahead and dive right in.

Disclaimer: Since we're between songs on Disclaimer Radio, and there are a couple of more-obscure-than-usual references than usual in this chapter, I'd like to take this space to direct you towards the online project run by Adult Swim, _This House has People in it._ It's decently old at this point- a few years, which is centuries by internet standards- but well worth a look if you're into somewhat disturbing yet darkly humorous content. My recommended place to start would be with NightMind's Youtube video _Explaining This House has People in it,_ which seems as good a place to enter into the experience as any, and better than others. No foreknowledge is needed for this story, but it's definitely worth looking into if you're interested.

Chapter XV

Weiss Schnee Tells a Story

 _Kind, crystal blue eyes_

 _Hide a heart as pure as gold_

 _My heart longs to join_

Pyrrha looked over her completed haiku, scribbled on the back of a Vale postcard she'd picked up at _From Dust 'Til Dawn_ earlier that day. Up ahead, she could see a small house on the corner that she'd finally determined as the Arc household. Her hands shook as she prepared to deliver her message- was it any good? Would he appreciate it? There was no time to edit it any further- she knew if she didn't deliver this now, she would never follow through on her plan at all.

She approached the front door and rang the bell, leaving the card on the doormat before turning and dashing into some bushes across the street- she had known from the beginning she would be unable to deliver it in person. From her hiding place, she watched tensely, waiting for some sign of change from the house.

After a moment, the door creaked open, and there was Jaune Arc, his hair still spilling down his back and around his eyes. He glanced around, seemingly searching for the person who'd rung the bell, before looking down at the mat. His eyes widened slightly, and he knelt down to pick the card up, first examining the picture on the front before turning it over and- she could only guess- spying the poem on the back. His eyes widened even further, and he pulled back into the house, taking the card with him before shutting the door.

Pyrrha breathed a sigh of relief- she couldn't tell what his immediate reaction had been, but he had, at least, accepted the card, which was already more than she'd hoped for.

With that, she turned and began following the directions Yang had given her to _A Simple Wok,_ a noodle stand near the heart of Vale that she'd agreed to meet the blond at, in preparation for what she referred to as Pyrrha's 'initiation.'

XXXX

Weiss Schnee's head perked up when she heard the doorbell at the front of her mansion ring. She would have been inclined to answer it herself, but, of course, one of the butlers beat her to it- as she approached, she could hear him greeting their guests- "Ah, young mistress Xiao Long- and I don't believe I am familiar with you?"

"Pyrrha Nikos," came the familiar voice of the girl from the previous day. "Is Wei- er, Ms. Schnee home?"

"I'm here, I'm here!" Weiss spoke up, shooing away the butler. "Thank you very much, Pennyworth. I can take things from here."

"Very good, ma'am," the butler inclined his head before retreating back into the household.

"F-f-fancy as ever, W-W-Weiss," Yang teased with that all-too-familiar smirk on her face.

"Up yours, too, Yang," Weiss responded, before pulling the taller girl down into a hug. Pyrrha waited on the sidelines, casually glancing around the immense property- yes, this was basically what she'd imagined when she'd learned that the girl in white was a Schnee.

"So, you r-ready to induct our n-newest r-recruit?" Yang asked, throwing a smirk back at Pyrrha.

"I believe I am," Weiss nodded, and was on the verge of following them out when a deep voice called from the top of the stairs behind her.

"Weiss!"

Weiss closed her eyes, as if in resignation, before slowly turning to see a tall man descending the stairs, dressed in a white suit over what seemed like a light blue shirt. His hair was white, and immaculately groomed, and he wore a large moustache that, compared to Professor Port's more rugged look, seemed to have been trimmed using a ruler.

"Hello, father," Weiss greeted, forcing a smile.

"And just where do you think you're going, young lady?"

"My friends and I were going to the theater," Weiss answered, sounding very much as though this were a well-rehearsed lie. "There are some fascinating screenings later today- we don't want to miss out on them."

The man, whom Pyrrha could only guess was Weiss's father, narrowed his eyebrows slightly, as though doubting the validity of this story. However, rather than doubting it, he tried another tactic- "And have you done your singing practice today?"

Weiss paled slightly. "No, I... I can't say I have."

"Your piano practice?"

"...No, father."

"Your assigned readings?"

"...No, father."

"In that case, I think it's safe to say you're not going anywhere- not today, at least." Weiss's father shook his head as he descended the remainder of the stairs and clapped a hand on his daughter's shoulder before turning to her friends at the doorstep, examining Yang first, his moustache twitching in clear distaste, before turning his gaze to Pyrrha. "I apologize, but my daughter has a position to maintain- I cannot allow her to shirk her duties. I'm sure you understand."

"Th-that's f-fine, sir," Yang spoke up, drawing Pyrrha's surprised eyes to her. From what little she'd learned of Yang since meeting her yesterday, she'd expected a far less measured response. Instead, cool amethyst was looking up into the man's light blue, not showing respect- Pyrrha got the feeling Yang didn't like the man much more than he liked her- but her voice was as steady as it ever got as she continued. "W-Weiss always w-wants to watch l-lame m-movies anyways. I guess P-Pyrrha and I c-can go watch that new m-movie now- _Plan B f-from Outer Sp-Space."_

Pyrrha blinked in confusion, but far from seeming confused- or perhaps even hurt- a look of comprehension crossed Weiss's face, and, while her father was focused on them, she seemed to give Yang a slight nod.

"That _does_ sound like exactly the kind of film that would appeal to you, Ms. Xiao Long," Mr. Schnee scoffed. "I suggest you go enjoy it- my daughter has work to do."

He turned and walked upstairs. Weiss threw one last glance at Yang, and Pyrrha saw a silent exchange between them- a wink from Yang, another nod from Weiss- before the door closed between them.

"Wh-what an a-asshole," Yang spoke up immediately upon the door's shutting.

"You don't get along?" Pyrrha guessed.

"You c-could s-say that," Yang nodded, her eyes narrowing slightly, before she turned and began returning along the path to the mansion, following it back to Vale. "C-come on."

"Are we really going to the theater to see _Plan B from Outer Space?"_

"P-Pyrrha, I am d-disappointed in you," Yang threw a backwards smirk at her. "Y-you know we w-won't."

"I figured," Pyrrha agreed. "I mean, it's kind of hard to watch a movie that doesn't exist."

Yang nodded. "I-isn't it, th-though?"

"So, what _is_ the plan?"

"The p-plan is, we w-waste the rest of the day in V-Vale- wait for n-nightfall," Yang smiled at her. "Your initiation h-hasn't been c-c-cancelled, just p-p-postponed."

XXXX

As the day progressed, Weiss found herself glancing at the windows with increasing frequency, watching intently as the sun reached its peak, and slowly began to descend. Whether singing, reading, writing, or tapping away at the piano, her eyes kept stealing glances at the window as the sky slowly turned from blue to a deep, blood red.

Finally, she found herself at dinner, as fantastic a spread as ever, sitting across from her father, Jacques Schnee. She fought to conceal her excitement, or any signs that she was planning on anything other than going straight to bed after this.

As they ate, Jacques looked up at her. "I don't like those friends of yours, young lady."

"I am aware of that, father," Weiss nodded slightly. "You have expressed your opinion before."

"I'll concede that Blake girl is okay- she certainly seems a steady worker- but that Yang girl- and _especially_ Ms. Valkyrie- are entirely out of control."

"I would be a fool not to realize that much." Weiss struggled to conceal a smirk- if only her father knew.

She also had to wonder if her father would still be supportive of Blake if he knew what she was hiding under her bow.

"You may not like them, father, but they are good people, in their own way," she continued. "I know they would never wish to harm me. Just yesterday, in fact-"

She stopped herself. There was no _telling_ how her father would react to news of her heading into the Emerald Forest on a semi-regular basis, let alone playing in the river or trying to build a treehouse.

But he had already picked up on her hesitation. "Just yesterday?" he prompted.

Weiss used another bite of food to disguise a nervous gulp. "Just yesterday... I ran out of medicine, and Yang ran to the drugstore to pick up a refill."

"You ran out of medicine?" Jacques quirked a brow. "Well, that explains the charge I just found on my account for more medicine..."

"Of course!"

"...and bandages."

Weiss froze, recalling Pyrrha's injuries. "Bandages?"

"Bandages," Jacques nodded. "Have you been doing anything... dangerous, Weiss?"

"Of course not!" Weiss denied- and, from her point of view, that much was true. "No, that was for a friend. She was... er... she was trying to show off and ended up cutting herself pretty badly. I- I tried to stop her, of course, but like you said, they're just out of control, and..."

"And you volunteered to cover the cost for the bandages," Jacques concluded the story for her. "I see."

Weiss took another bite. Was he buying it?

"...You're very generous, young lady," he finally said, before returning to his food. "Just be sure that it doesn't ruin you in the end."

"Of course not, father," Weiss nodded.

"As long as you refuse to join in their ridiculous games, I see no reason to prohibit you from seeing them at all," he mused. "Perhaps you might even manage to rein them in a little."

"That _is_ what I strive to do," Weiss agreed, privately thinking, _And it's never going to happen._

"You're very fragile, Weiss." Weiss looked up- her father's voice had shifted, going from strict and instructing to his approximation of warm and gentle. "I just don't want to see you get hurt. If you were to go along with their games and break a limb, or cut yourself open in the woods and contract some horrible disease."

"That won't happen," Weiss promised.

"Glad to hear it," Jacques nodded.

Abruptly, a subdued chime echoed through the dining room. Jacques reached into his pocket and produced a scroll, years more advanced than anything on the market to most people. Listening closely, Weiss thought she heard him curse under his breath. "I have to go," he muttered, rising from the table. "The White Fang are causing trouble at our facility in Vacuo."

Weiss grimaced- while she had expanded her horizon over the past few years, becoming accepting of faunus in general, she would _never_ claim to accept the radical movement that was the White Fang. Even coming to sympathize with faunus themselves, she still couldn't agree with any group that used violence to achieve its ends.

Jacques, on the other hand, had yet to accept faunus at all.

"I'll likely be gone all night," he muttered. "Don't wait up for me."

"Very well," Weiss nodded, watching as he left the dining room. A moment later, she dashed to the front of the building, where she spied a limousine driving off into the distance. As much as she continued to abhor the White Fang, she couldn't help but be grateful for their timing. Abandoning the remainder of her supper, she descended the stairs into the building's foyer, and was on the point of opening the door when she heard a voice through the darkness.

"Going out so late, Ms. Schnee?"

She spun to see the butler standing there, a slight smile gracing his lips.

"Pennyworth!" she yelped slightly. "Er... I... I was going to..."

"Going out to meet your friends, I presume?" Pennyworth guessed.

"... _Please_ don't tell my father," Weiss requested- no, begged- nervously.

Pennyworth gave a fatherly smile- a more fatherly smile, she couldn't help thinking, than she'd ever received from her actual father- as he clapped his hand on her shoulder. "It'll be our little secret," he winked.

"Thank you," she smiled, bowing her head slightly before turning and dashing out the door and down the path.

XXXX

As she'd expected, she found Yang waiting at their usual meet-up place- a noodle stand in the middle of Vale dubbed _A Simple Wok._ "Hey, W-Weissy," Yang greeted her with one of her (in)famous bear hugs. "I kn-knew you'd m-m-make it!"

"Let go of me, you oaf!" Weiss protested, despite offering only token struggles against her friend's vice-like arms. "Where are the others?"

Finally, Yang released her, leaning back a bit. "Not sure where P-P-Pyrrha is, but we'll be m-meeting Blake and N-Nora in the woods."

"Is everything ready?"

"I l-laid out the f-f-firewood, and I t-told P-Pyrrha to bring some g-g-goodies," Yang smiled at her. "And you kn-know Nora will b-be b-bringing some anyways."

"Is this all for my initiation?" came Pyrrha's voice, prompting them to turn and see her approaching, a bag slung over her shoulder.

"Wh-Whatcha got in there?" Yang asked.

"Oh- well, you said to bring some stuff to make s'mores..." Pyrrha suddenly looked sheepish as she opened the bag to reveal at least five bags of marshmallows, sleeves of chocolate, and boxes of graham crackers.

...Five _each._

"Y-you know, Pyrrha, wh-when I said t-to bring some s-s'mores m-material, I d-didn't expect you to b-buy the whole c-c-candy store. That's m-more _Weiss's_ thing."

"Shut up," Weiss muttered, lightly striking Yang on the arm.

"Oh, I... I just... grabbed what was in the pantry," Pyrrha glanced away, looking somewhat shame-faced. "Is it too much?"

"I d-doubt N-Nora will think so," Yang shrugged. "C-come on- it's t-time."

Pyrrha and Weiss followed Yang as she turned and led them through Vale towards the Emerald Forest. Pyrrha winced as they passed the library, and, eventually, the very same spot where she'd encountered Cardin, marked by a large gap in the fence. "Are you okay?" Weiss asked, turning to look at her with concern in her eyes.

"Yeah," she answered slowly. "Yeah... let's just go on."

Finally, they found their way into the forest, and eventually to the very bridge overlooking Haven River that Yang had parked her bike on the previous day. Standing on it were two people Pyrrha recognized- the girl in pink she'd witnessed at school, and the girl in black she'd talked to later that day in the library.

The girl in pink turned and beamed upon seeing them. "YANG!" she called out, leaping forward and embracing her. "We've been waiting out here _such_ a long time, you don't even know!"

"It t-took a l-little longer than I expected to g-get these two d-down to the n-n-noodle shop," Yang explained offhandedly, finally pulling herself away from her friend in pink. "G-glad you c-could all m-make it out tonight- h-here we have the n-newest m-member of T-Team L-Loser." She leapt behind Pyrrha and slapped her hands down on her shoulders. "Pyrrha Nikos."

"Why Team Loser?" Pyrrha wondered, giving voice to a question that had been on her mind since first hearing the name the previous day.

"My idea," the girl in pink volunteered. "Well- actually, _Cardin's_ idea. He's the one who first called us that- I was just the one to figure we should just _own_ it!" She reached out and began shaking Pyrrha's hand rapidly. "Nora Valkyrie- nice to meetcha!"

The girl in black was on the point of speaking up when Nora bounced over to her and wrapped one arm around her, pulling her to her side. "And this here's Blake Belladonna! She's a cat faunus, so she likes milk, tuna, and laser pointers!"

"Yes, very much," Blake grumbled, struggling to release herself from Nora's grip. "And, as you may have caught on, Nora here has some faulty wiring between her brain and her mouth- she doesn't always know when to _shut up!_ "

"Aw, I'm sorry, Blakey," Nora kicked at the ground, putting on an exaggerated puppy-dog pout. "Can you ever forgive me?"

"We'll see," Blake scoffed.

"Weren't you that girl in the library?" Pyrrha asked, trying to confirm her suspicions.

"Yes, I thought I recognized you, too," Blake nodded, turning to her. "Sorry to brush you off like that- I just don't like people getting in the way of my reading."

"Oh, isn't she so _cute?!"_ Nora squealed, wrapping her arms around her and beginning to stroke her hair fiercely.

"Beep... _beep..._ Nora!" Blake grumbled, forcing herself out of Nora's arms again.

Pyrrha glanced uncertainly at Weiss. "...Are things _always_ like this?"

"Pretty much," Weiss nodded, eyes closed. "It's exhausting."

A sentiment that didn't quite match up with the small smile on her lips.

Finally, Yang intervened, chuckling as she came between the two. "Alright, you t-two, b-break it up. We're n-not here to t-talk about how adorable B-Blake is." Yang flashed a smile at the girl in black, who looked very much like she didn't know how to feel about that line. "W-we're here to initiate a n-new r-recruit!" With this, she glanced back at Pyrrha, who suddenly felt much smaller than usual under all four girls' gaze. "So... f-follow me!"

Yang turned and marched off, crossing the remainder of the bridge and guiding them down a nearby slope. Nora followed immediately, marching gleefully as though she were in the army, Weiss following with that small smile still on her lips. Pyrrha, meanwhile, lagged behind a bit- all the better to get some face time with Blake. "So... a cat faunus, huh?"

"Yeah," Blake sighed, reaching up and removing her bow to show off a pair of velvety, triangular ears protruding from her head. "I didn't intend to tell you until _afterwards,_ but that's Nora for you..."

"Why hide it?" Pyrrha asked as they followed behind the others, making their way down towards the same riverbank Weiss had collapsed next to the previous day. "I mean... people are getting much better about it lately..."

"Not enough," Blake shook her head. "Glad to hear you don't mind, but until things change enough, it's better to meet people on my own terms, and reveal... _this_ later on."

"If that's how you feel," Pyrrha shrugged, backing off.

"Thank you."

"Hey, enough talk from the peanut gallery!" Nora called out- Pyrrha looked to see both Weiss and Nora herself sitting on logs around a small ring of stones- in the center of which was a pile of wood, which Yang was currently adding to. "It's almost time to start!"

"So _this_ is my initiation, hm?" Pyrrha asked, smiling as she assumed a seat on the log next to Weiss.

"N-Nothing better to bring p-p-people together than some sc-scary stories around a c-campfire," Yang smiled, dropping one final load of wood in the middle of the rocks. "S-so, wh-what do I d-do?"

"You burn!" Nora cheered.

"Hotter than the sun in the middle of July!" Yang called, her eyes turning momentarily red before _punching_ the pile of wood. A moment later, it was ablaze.

"How did she-?" Pyrrha began.

"Her semblance," Weiss explained. "She can raise her body's temperature to the point of burning anything that touches her."

"I see," Pyrrha nodded. "And everyone else?"

"I can use glyphs," Weiss shrugged. Upon seeing the confusion in Pyrrha's eyes, she elaborated. "I can make symbols that have effects on the world. Like... like making whoever runs on it faster, or manipulating gravity."

Pyrrha still looked confused. "It makes more sense if you see it in person," Weiss conceded.

"As for me," Nora butted in, eyes aglow in the light of the fire. "I can get struck by lightning and not die! Shocking, isn't it?"

Blake groaned. "Beep _beep,_ Nora," she muttered. "I thought Yang's puns were bad enough..."

"And what's your semblance, Blake?" Pyrrha asked.

"I can make shadow clones," Blake muttered, as though she didn't feel entirely proud of this fact, the way Nora was. "For instance, if Team CRDL tried to gang up on me, I could duck out of the way and leave a shadow of myself to take the hit instead."

"I see," Pyrrha acknowledged, her eyes narrowing. It sounded interesting, but something in Blake's voice was really communicating her lack of pride in it.

"So, wh-what do you do, P-Pyrrha?" Yang asked, taking her own seat.

"Oh, me?" Pyrrha asked, glancing down at the fire. "Well... I... er... I haven't actually awakened yet."

She looked up, afraid to see the derision in their faces.

There was none. Weiss, Blake, and Yang all looked somewhat sympathetic, while Nora seemed more excited than anything. "That... is... _awesome!"_ she cheered, leaping to her feet and bowing down before Pyrrha's feet. "Can I be there when you finally _do_ awaken? Please, please, pretty please with pancakes on top? I bet it's gonna be something amazing, and I don't want to miss it!"

"Beep beep, Nora," Weiss chuckled, trying to push the girl in pink away with her toe. "You're crowding the poor girl.

"Oh, right, sorry," Nora laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head as she returned to her log. "So... off the topic of semblances... we got s'mores?"

"Didn't you bring any, Nora?" Weiss asked, surprise in her voice.

"Yeah... about that... I couldn't find anything in our house, and I didn't want to go out and buy any- I'm saving up for... something else..." Nora looked away, rubbing the back of her head again. "So..."

"Don't worry, I brought plenty for everyone," Pyrrha smiled, bringing her bag around and opening it up, tossing a bag of marshmallows to everyone.

"Ooohhhh," Nora beamed. "Awesome! I like you- from now on, you're Mrs. Stay Puft!"

"Nora!" Weiss shot a glare at her, but Pyrrha couldn't help smiling.

"Well... can't say I've heard that one before," she admitted, now passing around the chocolate and crackers. "So... who's going to start the stories?"

"Oh, oh, pick me!" Nora began bouncing up and down in her seat. "Pick me, I'll tell a good one! Pick me!"

"N-Nora?" Yang smiled as she speared a marshmallow on a stick. "Would you like to start us off?"

"Thanks, Yang!" Nora grinned. "Hmmm... I've got it! Once, there was a killer named Jim-"

"You mean Jeff?" Weiss asked, already on the verge of pressing her face into her hand.

" _I'm_ telling the story, Weissy!" Nora objected. "Anyways, he wasn't always a killer- he used to be a normal kid, until a group of bullies doused him in bleach and set him on fire!"

"As you do," Yang chortled, looking as though she was trying to resist, but failing.

"Nora, bleach isn't flam-" Blake started, but Nora raised her voice.

"He fought back, but they ended up cutting off his eyelids and his nose with their machetes!"

 _Pretty accurate machetes,_ Pyrrha couldn't help thinking.

"But in the end, he took them all down!" Nora declared, leaping to her feet. "But then, in the middle of the night, he caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror, and decided to carve a smile into his face and go out and kill people in the middle of the night, always saying 'go to sleep!' And that's how he became... Jib the Killer!"

"... I thought his name was Jim," Weiss muttered.

Yang, on the other hand, was roaring with laughter. "G-Great story, N-Nora. I kn-knew we could c-count on you!"

"My brain's leaking out of my ears," Blake muttered, though there was a smile on her face as well. "All four of them," she added, throwing a smirk around the group.

"You guys just don't recognize genius," Nora huffed, spearing a marshmallow and sticking it over the fire.

"No?" Weiss asked. "Maybe we should ask Blake, then- she's the one who does the most reading."

"You want _me_ to tell a story?" Blake asked, smirking. "Are you sure?"

"Bring it on, Blakey!" Nora cheered. "I can take _anything_ you can dish out!"

"Very well." Blake lowered her voice, steepling her hands and raising them just over her mouth. "In that case, I will tell you the story... of the Kuchisake-Onna."

Pyrrha and Weiss paled, but Yang and Nora still seemed eager.

"Once, in the Kingdom of Vacuo, there was a beautiful woman, the envy of all other women- and the desire of all men. Hardly could she walk down the street without catching the eye of potential suitors- and that was to be her undoing.

"For, you see, she was married to a man who initially seemed kind, but grew incredibly jealous, consumed by the idea that she was not truly faithful to him, and would one day leave him for another. Eventually, he became convinced that it had already happened- he confronted her at the top of their stairs, demanding that she say who it was. She denied it fervently, but this only caused her husband's anger to grow, until he took a ceremonial sword and sliced her mouth open, ear to ear. As she lay dying in a pool of her own blood, he shouted down at her, 'And who will find you beautiful now?'"

"Several years later, a young girl was walking home from school when she heard a cooing voice from a nearby alley. She approached and discovered a truly beautiful woman- beautiful except for two details- her eyes were cold and lifeless-looking, and she wore a scarf tight around her lower face. 'Am I beautiful?' the woman asked.

"'Yes, very much,' the girl answered truthfully, even as she was unable to tear her eyes away from the scarf.

"A moment later, the woman removed the scarf, revealing a horrible, jagged, disfigured grin running up to her ears. 'And am I still?' she asked.

"The girl was terrified, but had no wish to offend the woman, and thus said, 'Yes, you are still beautiful.'

"The woman produced a knife and rushed at the girl. 'Then you will be, too,' she cried as she plunged the knife into the girl's flesh.

"Later that day, the body of the girl was found, a hideous smile carved into her face- the latest in a long string of killings at the hand of the Kuchisake-Onna- the Slit-Mouthed Woman."

Blake halted for a moment to press a marshmallow between a slab of chocolate and a graham cracker. Before biting into it, she continued. "So, heed this advice, as it may one day be the only thing between you and a gruesome death. Should you ever meet a woman with a scarf around her lower face, asking if she is beautiful, either offer a vague answer- that you are uncertain- or return the question in kind, asking if you are yourself. If you do not, you may very well find yourself the next victim... of the Kuchisake-Onna."

Finally, she bit into her s'more, gazing around the campfire. Pyrrha and Weiss, who had had some idea of what to expect, simply looked pale, but Yang and Nora looked horrified- Yang was caressing her cheek absentmindedly, while Nora was struggling to change her face back into a smile. "W-well," Nora finally said, stuttering almost in the same fashion as Yang, "Th-that wasn't scary at all, r-right, Y-Yang?"

"N-n-not at a-a-all," Yang agreed, throwing a nervous smile at her friend. "S-so, who's n-n-next?" Her eyes roamed around, until she saw Pyrrha. "Ah, P-Pyrrha! T-time for our n-newest r-r-recruit to t-tell her story!"

"Oh, me?" Pyrrha asked, finishing off a s'more of her own. "I- I'm not the greatest storyteller. Especially after that..."

"Oh, come on," Blake encouraged. "I'm sure you've got _something_ up your sleeve."

Pyrrha thought back, and an idea occurred to her. "Well... there _is_ that thing that happened in January."

"'That happened?'" Weiss repeated. "You're telling us this is a _true_ story, huh?"

"Well, I _think,_ " Pyrrha conceded. "My memory is hazy- I'll be the first to admit I'm not entirely sure _exactly_ what happened..."

She began to speak, and found that once she had begun, she couldn't stop. "Oobleck was offering extra credit one day to anyone who would stay behind and help him with his book collection. By the time he let me go, it was already night-time- I started back home, but I stopped when I heard a voice on Autumn Bridge." She stopped to take a breath, and analyze the reactions of her audience so far. To her surprise, they all seemed enraptured- though there was something nervous there as well- at least in the faces of Yang, Blake, and Weiss. Nora was busy helping herself to another s'more.

"I looked at the river, and it was frozen. There was a woman- a woman standing out on the ice, her hands up to her face... she just seemed... she seemed wrong."

"W-W-What did she l-l-look like?" Yang asked, suddenly looking very serious- much more serious than Pyrrha imagined most campfire sessions going.

"Oh- um... she was short... her hair was pink on one side, but brown on the other...she wore a white coat, black pants... black gloves..."

"And her eyes?" Yang prompted, urgency entering her voice now. "Were her eyes d-different colors?"

"No... no, I don't think so," Pyrrha shook her head. "I mean... she didn't really have... _normal_ eyes. When she finally lowered her hands, her face... her face was like a statue." Pyrrha closed her eyes, waiting for the cries of disbelief. They didn't come.

" _I_ saw a w-woman," Yang muttered. "B-but she d-didn't have a st-statue f-for a f-face..."

"She got closer," Pyrrha recalled. "And when she was close enough, she changed- she turned into a weeping angel."

"A weeping angel?" Blake asked. "Like from Professor What?"

"Exactly like that," Pyrrha shuddered. "I'd just been watching those episodes, so I guess they were on my mind... Yang, is everything okay?"

"I s-saw a woman l-like that, t-too," Yang repeated, looking up at them, dead seriousness written into her eyes. "But she d-didn't l-look like an angel. H-her eyes were d-different c-colors. One b-blue, one b-brown... And she... she... sh-sh-she..."

"Are you okay, Yang?" Blake asked, standing and crossing the fire to sit down next to the blond, wrapping an arm around her and rubbing her back.

Listening closely, the other girls heard Yang muttering something to herself, almost in a chant- "H-h-hotter than th-the s-s-sun in the m-middle of July, I b-b-burn... hotter than the s-sun in the m-m-middle of J-July, I burn... hotter than the sun in the middle of July, I burn..."

At long last, she looked up at them. "S-sorry," she muttered, looking deeply ashamed of herself. "It's j-just... the w-woman... she had R-R-R-Ruby."

 _That_ got everyone's attention. "Ruby?" Weiss asked immediately. "You _saw_ her?"

"N-not her, _exactly,_ " Yang shook her head. "It w-was... it w-was m-m-more like the w-woman had... had s-somehow ch-changed _into_ her... aside f-from the f-face, she l-looked j-just like what P-Pyrrha d-d-described."

Weiss bit her lower lip. "But... but that can't be true, can it?" she asked, almost desperately. "I mean... I mean, if that's true, then..." She didn't even want to entertain the idea, but it was nagging at her now, not willing to leave.

"You saw something too, Weissy?" Nora asked, and it appeared as though the tension surrounding the campfire had brought nerves even to _her_ face.

"I- I didn't think so," Weiss shuddered at the thought. "I thought it was just... you know, a hallucination or something..." She wrapped her arms around herself. "I... I don't want to think about it..."

She jolted as she felt an arm wrapping around her- Pyrrha. "You can tell us," she said softly.

Weiss, white-faced, glanced around at the faces of her friends, nodded stiffly, and began to speak.

XXXX

It was two months earlier, mid-April, during Beacon's annual Spring Break. Rather than wasting money on traveling outside of Vale, Jacques had simply taken his daughter to another of their houses in the area- a house along Castaway Beach, which ran along the coastline less than ten miles outside of Vale. While walking along the beach one day, the two had found themselves accosted by a faunus with the antlers of a deer protruding from her head- a faunus that had proceeded to verbally abuse the two, eventually driving Weiss herself to tears (Weiss admitted somewhat ashamedly.)

The situation had been dealt with swiftly, the bodyguards that Jacques had insisted on following them everywhere entering and dragging the woman away. Jacques had proceeded to attempt to comfort his daughter on the way back to the beach house, though he knew only the very surface of what was troubling her.

Despite the harsh insults slung her way by the faunus, Weiss couldn't bring herself to anger- as she could see, the faunus had fallen on hard times- her clothes were remarkably bedraggled, and there were signs of illness that Weiss, trained as she was to fear such things, could spy at several yards. It seemed to her that the shouting had been more an act of desperation than anything else, and even her cries that she hoped that Adam Taurus, leader of the White Fang (whose name sent shudders across the entirety of Team Loser, even Blake,) would find Weiss and kill her entire family failed to seem like anything more than the crying of a scared dog to her.

As a result of the incident, the Schnees ended up returning home much sooner than they'd planned. The whole incident stuck with Weiss, leaving her to spend a great deal of spare time wandering around the town, trying to piece together her own whirling thoughts.

Eventually, she'd found herself wandering to The House on Vickery Lane.

The House on Vickery Lane was already known to all present, with the exception of Pyrrha, so they were able to fill her in with ease. The House on Vickery Lane was known throughout Vale as _that_ house- the house nearly every town seemed to sport. Nobody knew who'd built it, who'd originally owned it, or who had been the last to live there before it was left abandoned on the town's outskirts. In every way possible, the House on Vickery Lane fit the stereotype of an old, creepy, dark building, from its decrepit appearance, to its vast, overgrown yard, to rumors of faces appearing in the windows- quite an accomplishment, considering most of the windows were boarded up.

Weiss herself wasn't certain why she'd found herself drawn to the House. In a way, she privately thought, perhaps it reminded her of herself- distant, lonely, searching for purpose- though she said none of this aloud, even to her friends. Instead, she focused on the woman she'd met in its front yard.

She had been standing in front of the house, gazing at its ruin, wondering, when a voice had spoken from behind her. "Help me..."

The voice had been soft, but had sent chills down her spine nonetheless. "Please, help me, Weiss..."

The voice saying her name had finally caused her to spin around to see the woman. Weiss described her in much the way Pyrrha and Yang had- she had been short, her eyes different colors- from what Weiss could see of them- as was her hair- what was left of it, at least.

The woman was... destroyed. In Weiss's suddenly fevered state, it seemed that this woman had somehow managed to contract every disease known to man and faunus alike- only a few stringy strands of hair remained on her head, her eyes were rolled back into her skull, only a bit of the irises showing, as her skin rotted away, somehow taking on a sick, pink hue. Her clothes, too, were much as her friends had described, but were torn and bedraggled as her flesh, much of it replaced with what appeared to be sheets, and her jaw was hanging open as if she had no means to close it. One of her eyes seemed to be rotting away, her nose had decayed from her face, leaving only what seemed more like an open wound, and from her head protruded a pair of antlers.

Weiss had instinctively recoiled, pulling away, and unconsciously towards the House. The woman took one step forward for every step back Weiss took, limping heavily, as though struggling even to move. "Please... won't you help a poor faunus?" the woman had asked, almost mockingly. "Please... Weiss, I'll _die_ without you..."

The woman had coughed, and a vile mix of phlegm and blood had emerged from her mouth, spattering onto the ground. That had been the last straw- Weiss had turned and ran in the opposite direction- into the House's back yard.

She had stopped only when blocked by a metal fence- she quickly began to examine it, reaching up and down in search of some way to pass through, only to turn and find the woman standing there again, tilting her head as she gazed at her. "Please, Weiss... you wouldn't leave a poor faunus to die like your fucking father, would you?" she'd asked gently, her words and complete odds with her tone. "If you don't, Adam Taurus might just hunt you down and mount your head on a pike... please, Weiss... come and help... I have ice cream to offer in return..."

Weiss recoiled at the odd mix of gentle, soothing speech and the violent ridicule that she'd heard not two days before. She turned and kicked at the fence- old as it was, it fell apart at the bottom, allowing her to crawl through. She had continued her run, and not looked back.

XXXX

Weiss brought her story to a conclusion, looking around at the shocked faces of her friends.

"A-are y-you s-s-sure?" Yang asked, her stutter rising in intensity. "A-absolutely _p-p-positive?_ "

"As sure as I imagine Pyrrha was," Weiss nodded, before pressing her face into her hands. " _Dust,_ I just want to forget the whole thing..."

"So, wait..." Nora spoke slowly. "Am _I_ the only one who hasn't seen this... this woman... thing?"

"No, Nora," Blake shook her head, though she was visibly trembling as well. " _None_ of us have. Come on guys, admit it, this is a joke you're all pulling, right?"

"I'm not lying," Pyrrha shook her head.

"Me n-n-neither," Yang stuttered defiantly.

"I... I just know what I saw," Weiss practically whispered. "I don't pretend to know why."

"But you _can't_ have seen it!" Blake seemed to insist, even as her resolution seemed to be breaking down. "Ruby... weeping angels... some... some sick faunus- it just doesn't add up! It can't be- I didn't see..."

She abruptly silenced herself, eyes wide. Everyone turned to stare at her. "You _did_ see something!" Weiss gasped.

"What w-w-was it?" Yang asked urgently. "B-Blake- tell us wh-what it w-was!"

Blake bit her lip, looking even more hesitant than Weiss.

"B-Blake," Yang spoke again, abandoning her more forceful approach in favor of a more desperate tone, seemingly trying to coax the faunus girl into speaking. "P-please... th-this is the c-closest I've had to a l-l-lead on where R-R-Ruby might have g-g-gone... p-please, if you kn-know _anything..._ _please_ t-tell me."

Blake let out a gulp, looking from one encouraging face to the next, before seeming to finally resign herself. "Okay," she muttered. "Last-"

Suddenly, another voice made itself heard- "And what might all you girls be doing, hmm?"

 _XXXX_

And, for once, my prediction about a chapter's length proves true. I'll have to wait until I upload to know for sure, but I'm pretty sure this chapter is the longest yet. Hopefully that doesn't put anyone off too much. The next couple chapters ought to be a bit shorter, but to let me know which you prefer, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced with open arms, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	17. Nora Valkyrie Becomes a Wingman (C)

Gamer4 in. Because my conscience won't permit me to do otherwise, I now feel the need to plug a story that offered some inspiration for this one- _Don't Look_ by gabriel blessing. It's an Evangelion fic featuring the Slender Man- and that's the basic premise. Ridiculous as it sounds, it is _ridiculously_ well-written for a quick story written over the course of a week or two to celebrate Halloween, and while I have an issue or two with it- primarily one of the developments towards the end- it is still an absolute must-read for anyone who's a fan of Evangelion, and has an even basic interest in the Slender Man Mythos. Worry not, it is completed, and if you're wondering why I'm plugging it here, of all places- if you read it, you'll probably pick up on the things I took inspiration from when setting out into this fic. Naturally, of course, that's entirely up to you- in the meantime, back to the story at hand.

Disclaimer: Back to Disclaimer Radio- There's a point where it tips, there's a point where it breaks, there's a point where it bends, there's a point we just can't take anymore!

Chapter XVI

Nora Valkyrie Becomes a Wingman

"And what might all you girls be doing, hmm?" asked a fast-paced voice from the darkness.

Later on, most of Team Loser would swear they leapt several miles into the air as they spun around on their logs to find the speaker. For a moment, Weiss believed that somehow, her father had discovered her excursion, while images were filling Yang's mind with thoughts of this mysterious woman who had taken her sister from her, her hands already curling into fists, her eyes turning red-

Until they all heard Pyrrha let out a surprised, "Professor Oobleck?"

Team Loser froze as they realized the true identity of the voice- sure enough, there stood the schoolteacher, albeit wearing much more casual clothing than his usual slacks, half-tucked white shirt, and perpetually-askew yellow tie. His green hair, however, was as messy as ever, and his eyes were still hidden behind his large, round glasses. Below that, he was instead wearing what seemed like a plain yellow t-shirt and jogging shorts.

"Doctor," he corrected, as ever. "How many times must I remind you, Ms. Nikos?"

They should have realized- he was finishing his sentences practically the same nanosecond he began them. And, sure enough, even all the way out here, he was occasionally taking sips from his beloved thermos. "Now, what is all this, then?" he asked. "I went out for a night-time jog- I didn't expect to find a group of my students having a camp-out in the woods."

"Not a camp-out, exactly," Blake explained nervously, rubbing the back of her head much in the way Nora had earlier. "We were... umm..." She glanced around the circle for back-up, sensing it wouldn't be a good idea to tell the truth.

Or, at least, the _whole_ truth, as Weiss decided. "We were telling scary stories," she stepped in, standing up from her log. "We were welcoming Pyrrha- she just joined our little club here. We were going to go home afterwards."

"I see," Oobleck nodded, a hand raised to his chin. "An admirable thing, indeed- but do any of your parents know that you're out here?"

Weiss's voice froze in her throat- of _course_ her father didn't know she was out here- he'd go ballistic if he ever found out she'd gone into the Emerald Forest at _all,_ let alone in the dead of night to tell spooky stories around a campfire. Eating _s'mores._ A quick glance around told her that none of the others had informed their parents either. Nobody spoke, but Oobleck seemed to get the picture.

"I see," he nodded. "However... these are dangerous times, girls. It is no secret there is a serial kidnapper lurking in our midst- it seems to me going into the woods at night is the last thing you would want to do. If I may ask, whose idea was this?"

Team Loser threw nervous glances at each other- all except for Yang, who stood up, looking almost defiant as she approached her history teacher. "Th-that would be m-me, D-Doctor," she stuttered, though not out of any fear. "I d-dragged them all out h-here."

Pyrrha's eyes widened, seeing the blond standing up for her friends in this fashion, willing to take all the heat- and in that moment, understood why the other girls seemed to look up to Yang and Yang alone as their Team's leader.

"That's not true, sir," she found herself saying, standing up and alongside Yang. "This was _my_ idea- I insisted on it."

Oobleck quirked a brow, but before he could question her further, Nora popped up from _her_ log, a wide grin on her face. "No need for you guys to take the heat," she chirped. "We all know _I'm_ the ideas lady around here!"

Weiss sighed, sounding more resigned than anything as she stood up. "You too, Ms. Schnee?" Oobleck asked, sounding somewhat dumbfounded.

"It wasn't my _idea,_ " Weiss shook her head, knowing that the Doctor would _never_ believe that. "But I could have easily stopped them if I wanted- in a way, it's just as much my fault as theirs. Maybe more so- I really should have known better."

While his glasses concealed his eyes, they got the impression that he was scanning them in bewilderment. "Hmmm... and I suppose it's _your_ fault too, Ms. Belladonna?"

"Quite so," whispered a voice right next to Pyrrha and Weiss, causing them to jump again- Blake seemed to have practically materialized behind them without either noticing.

Oobleck stood for a moment, with his arms crossed. "Well..." For the first time since they'd known him, he seemed truly speechless. "In that case..."

Weiss cringed- this was it, he was going to tell their parents. She didn't know how the others' would react, but she could predict _exactly_ how _her_ father would respond.

And then Oobleck sighed. "Girls... I am not any of your fathers, nor is school currently in session. As such, I see myself as having no authority over you- if you truly recognize the foolishness of what you've done here, I see no reason to take this to those who do."

Eyes widened, and eventually, a sigh of relief seemed to pass over them- no sound was heard, but they all seemed to lose the tension in their shoulders as one.

"Thank you, Doctor," Pyrrha smiled at him.

"Think nothing of it, dear girl," Oobleck smiled back. "I would be lying if I said I had done nothing of the sort in my own youth. You live in a magical time- for these precious years, you are still children- were it not for the exceptional circumstances, I would see no reason not to allow you to play the part." He paused momentarily to look around. "And there is a beauty in these woods..."

Finally, he turned back to them. "And thus, I will not tell you not to return here, either. However, I _would_ like you to promise me two things before I go- first, no more _nighttime_ excursions- not until we have this... _unpleasant_ individual behind bars. Second- should you see fit to return to the Emerald Forest, do so in a group- as you are now. Safety in numbers, dear girls, safety in numbers!"

"Of c-course," Yang nodded, still looking relieved to have escaped punishment.

"It would be boring coming out to these woods without these losers anyways!" Nora cheered, pulling Pyrrha and Weiss into her arms.

"Beep _beep,_ Nora," Weiss muttered as she pulled herself away.

"Very good, then," Oobleck nodded one last time. "Now- I believe you may be better served at your homes."

With that, he turned and dashed off with as much speed as ever. Team Loser looked between themselves, showing emotions ranging from shame to fear to Yang's face, which could only be described as seeming to say, _Well,_ that _just happened._

"Alright, let's b-break up for the n-n-night," she finally ordered. "The f-fire'll b-burn itself out. L-let's just g-go home."

Blake nodded, and was gone before anyone could say anything else. Pyrrha and Weiss threw nervous glances at each other, before nodding and returning to the bridge hanging over the river nearby- and the path back to town. Meanwhile, Nora drew near to Yang. "Mind walking me home, milady?" the girl in pink asked.

"Something wr-wr-wrong, Nora?" Yang asked.

"Not _wrong,_ exactly," Nora shook her head. "I just want to talk."

Yang slowly nodded, before turning and following after Pyrrha and Weiss, sticking with Nora even after losing sight of the other two.

XXXX

As the days went on, Nora found the events of that night slowly relocating themselves to the back of her mind. As she had told Yang, she couldn't shake the feeling that her friends had seen _something,_ but there was a fantasy-like element to it all that cast it in a veil of disbelief- after all, even the storytellers _themselves_ claimed they'd initially brushed it off as hallucination.

So instead, Nora turned her attention towards something she'd been looking forward to for the past few months- the upcoming Vytal Fair, which would be rolling into Vale in less than a week. Her parents had promised to take her if she passed all her classes- with the end result that she'd aced them all, even if teachers tended to find her personality a bit overbearing at times. She was so excited that she'd been saving up her money for several weeks now, preparing to invest in cotton candy, funnel cake, and quite a few rides and games once the Fair finally arrived.

It was the Saturday after the night of the campfire that she finally approached her father. She had spent most of the afternoon practicing with static electricity- perhaps as part of her semblance, she found herself capable of building it up much faster than was usual, letting off a delighted giggle when she touched something metallic and let it all release in a pop that was now more pleasing than painful to her.

At long last, she snuck up behind her father, currently busy tapping away at his computer, and lightly tapped him- causing yet another jolt. "Boop!" she greeted cheerfully.

"Ah!" he jumped, before turning to see his daughter standing behind him. "Ah- Nora- practicing with static, I see?"

"It's fun!" she nodded, beaming. "Is Mom gonna be home tonight?"

"I wouldn't hold my breath," her father shook his head, glancing back at his computer even as he attempted to hold a conversation with her. "She told me she'd be pretty busy this week."

"We're still going to the Fair, though, right?" Nora asked chirpily, hardly reacting to the news.

She _did_ react, however, when her father sighed. "Still planning on going to the Fair, hm?"

"Well, I got A's in all my classes," Nora reminded him.

"Right... right... here you go," he smiled, reaching into a nearby drawer and producing three tickets into the Fairgrounds, handing them all to her.

"WHOOP! Thanks, Dad, you're the best!" Nora cheered, wrapping her arms around her father in a chokehold.

"Y-you're choking me, N-Nora!" her father gasped exaggeratedly, until Nora finally let go of him, smiling sheepishly.

"Sorry." She rubbed the back of her head for a moment before glancing at the tickets. "But- why give them all to me? Shouldn't you keep yours, or..."

Her father sighed. "Nora... I don't think your mother or I will make it."

"Huh?" Nora's face fell immediately. "You- you won't?"

"We've been very busy these past few weeks, and I'm not sure we can justify taking time out of our schedule to go to the Fair."

Nora stared as her old man shook his head, looking genuinely sorry. "I... I hate to have to say it... but we thought we could give you our tickets anyways... maybe bring some of your friends along."

Nora kept her crestfallen face for a few more seconds, then visibly brightened up- whether genuinely or not, even she wasn't entirely sure. "Of- of course!" she crowed. "I've got plenty of friends who can make it, I'm sure of it! Thanks, Daddy!"

With that, she turned and bounced out of the room, making immediately for the phone.

Perhaps she shouldn't be surprised, she thought- her parents were often too busy to deal much with her, and nights that they were all together were something rare- to be treasured. There was a _reason,_ after all, that Yang's house had practically become her second home- that she'd shifted from calling Taiyang Xiao Long 'Yang's father' to calling him 'Mr. Xiao Long' to finally referring to him simply as 'Pops.' Heck, half the time, Taiyang didn't even comment when he saw Nora enter the house with Yang, accepting it more as a normal occurrence than anything, asking only if she'd be sticking around for dinner- which, more often than not, especially in light of last summer's end, she did.

All this in mind, what _really_ shouldn't have been surprising was that Yang was the first friend Nora called, bouncing eagerly from one foot to the other as she waited for the blond to pick up. Finally, "Hello?"

"Heeeey, YANG!" Nora greeted cheerfully. "Guess who's got three tickets to go to the Fair tomorrow?"

"H-heading to the F-F-Fair, huh?" Yang chuckled lightly.

"Yup! And I've got a free ticket with your name on it!"

"It _d-d-does_ sound like f-fun," Yang agreed, "b-but I'm g-gonna have to p-p-pass."

Nora felt like she froze mid-jump. "Huh?"

"D-Dad and I are g-going out t-tomorrow," Yang explained, definitely sounding apologetic. "W-We haven't r-really hung out like th-this for a while, s-s-so..."

"Oh, I understand!" Nora spoke up again, trying to mask her disappointment. "What're you going to do?"

"W-we're heading to a sh-sh-shooting range," Yang answered. "H-he's g-giving me some practice with his g-gun."

"I... I see," Nora nodded. "Well, I'm sure some of the others will be open!"

"I'm sure they w-will," Yang agreed. "S-s-sorry again, Nora."

They said their goodbyes, and hung up. Nora spent a couple seconds looking downcast before perking up. Next up was Weiss, and surely she-

"-can't come," Weiss said, sounding remarkably regretful. "My father has me scheduled for professional singing and piano lessons tomorrow, among other things. I'd love to come-" she definitely sounded like she did- "but he won't let me get away this time."

"Did he find out about the other night?" Nora asked nervously- Yang was the most outspoken about it, but she wasn't alone in her distaste of Weiss's father.

"Oh, no, believe me, I'd know if he did," Weiss muttered scornfully. "No, I suppose he just feels like he hasn't been working me hard enough. I'd love to come, but I'm afraid I'll have to pass this time."

"...Alright," Nora nodded mournfully, before hanging up. "Well, I guess Blake is up next..."

For a moment, Nora thought Blake might not pick up at all- her phone kept ringing and ringing and ringing for what felt like a solid ten minutes before someone finally picked up. "Hello?"

"Blakey!" Nora brightened at the sound of her voice.

"Oh- hi, Nora," Blake responded, sounding oddly nervous. "To... what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I've got three tickets to the Vytal Fair, and no one to go with!" Nora exclaimed. "Come on, Blakey, you _know_ you want to be there for that!"

"Oh- well, actually, Nora..." Blake began, and Nora's heart began its trip down to her socks, "I... I'm going to be busy tomorrow."

"What's wrong, Blakey?" Nora asked concernedly. "You know, you've been different since that night in the woods- you've been more... you know... blake-y!"

"I've been busy," Blake repeated evasively. "I can't help it that I have things to do."

"Like reading Ninjas of Love?" Nora asked mischievously.

Silence followed. Finally, there was the sound of Blake sighing. "Beep beep, Nora..."

"Come on, whatever it is, can't it wait for Monday?"

"No, Nora, no it can't." Blake was starting to sound irritable. "Look, I'm sure one of the others will be free, okay? Look, I need to go." And with that, she had hung up before Nora could reply that Yang and Weiss were both busy tomorrow as well.

Nora leaned back and sighed. She liked Blake- she really did. Something about the girl's calm demeanor, and the balance it brought to her own brand of oddness and spontaneity appealed to her. On the other hand, sometimes the faunus girl could be a little _too_ reclusive for her own good- she would often prefer to let problems ball up inside of her for weeks on end rather than share it with friends that were all too willing to listen. Sometimes she found herself wishing for a friend _like_ Blake, but a little more open- willing to put up with her, but also to talk when it was needed.

But back to the Fair. Blake was busy, Weiss was busy, even _Yang_ was busy- who else was-

Nora felt like slapping herself. Of _course_ there was still someone left- had she not just spent several days getting to know the newest member of their 'team?'

A moment later, she'd put in one last number and was eagerly awaiting the voice at the end of the line.

"Hello?"

"HI, PYRRHA!" Nora greeted jovially. There was a panicked cry at the other end, and then after a moment (Nora's imagination painted a scene where Pyrrha tossed the phone into the air and fumbled to catch it again,) the voice returned. "H-hello again, Nora. What is it?"

"Well, the Vytal Fair is back in town, and I really, really, _really_ want to go, but I don't want to go alone, but nobody else can come- everyone else is busy, so I was hoping you were available tomorrow!"

Pyrrha remained silent for a moment, trying to sort through what Nora had just said. "You want me to go to the Fair with you tomorrow?"

"Yup!" Nora nodded, glad that she had gotten that much.

"Well, that sounds lovely," Pyrrha admitted, "but I'm afraid I don't have the money."

"Don't you worry about that!" Nora beamed. "I've got three free tickets and I've been saving up for this all spring! I'll just put it on your tab!"

Pyrrha chuckled. "That sounds like a fair deal..."

A brief silence followed, though Nora thought she could hear her newest friend muttering to herself. "Well, I _do_ have a book report I ought to get to writing..." Nora's heart started to sink again... "But it's nothing that can't wait until later. Nora, I would _love_ to go to the Fair with you."

"WHOOHOO!" Nora cheered. "You won't regret this, Mrs. Stay-Puft! Just meet me at the fairgrounds! You know where those are, right?"

"I'm certain I do," Pyrrha agreed. "What time?"

After agreeing to meet up at ten, Nora darted up to her room to begin laying her plans for the next day- plans that would ultimately come to nothing, as by the time she formulated one, a new one immediately began to take root in her mind, completely dashing out the old.

XXXX

The next morning, Nora woke bright and early, and wasted no time in devouring a large breakfast before dashing out the door, making sure to take her tickets and savings with her.

She practically sprinted down the streets of Vale, eager to arrive at the fairgrounds as quick as possible, only to be distracted as she charged through the commercial district.

Standing on one of the sidewalks, just outside of a coffee shop, she spied a tall boy with short, scraggly blond hair, dressed in a hoodie and jeans, sipping away at what appeared to be a mocha of some sort. She had the feeling she knew this kid...

Suddenly, her memory came rushing back. Of course- Jaune Arc! She'd seen him around school- though she could have sworn he usually wore his hair much longer. He looked so lonely, just standing outside a coffee shop... Almost absentmindedly, she reached into her pockets, where she still had one spare ticket left...

The choice was made, and when Nora made a decision, nothing would stop her from fulfilling it. "Hey, Jaune!" she crowed, darting down the street to meet him.

The boy jumped slightly, spinning around to see a pink missile hurtling towards him. "Oh- oh, hey, uh... Nora, right?"

"Nora Valkyrie!" Nora nodded eagerly, reaching out, seizing his free hand, and eagerly shaking it up and down. "And you're Jaune Arc, right?"

"That's my name," Jaune nodded, smiling slightly even as he struggled to pull his hand free. "Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, the-" He stopped himself mid-sentence, shaking his head slightly. "Never mind," he muttered quietly, before turning back to face her. "So, uh... what brings you here today?"

"Oh, I'm heading to the Fair!" Nora announced excitedly. "And you're coming with me!"

"Oh, that's nice- wait, what?"

"Yup!" Nora nodded eagerly. "I've got three free tickets, and I'm already meeting up with one of my friends- that means I've got a ticket left over for you, too!"

Jaune blinked in surprise. "You- you want _me_ to- you want _me_ to go to the Fair with you?"

"And my friend!" Nora grinned. "You might know her- Pyrrha Nikos?"

"We've met once or twice," Jaune shrugged.

"She's really cool," Nora smiled. "I call her Mrs. Stay-Puft!"

"That's not nice," Jaune interjected, sounding somewhat reproachful. "I mean, yeah, she's on the big side, but from what I've seen, she's a great person!"

"Ah, she knows I don't mean anything by it," Nora waved his concern aside. "I only call her that because she brought a _ton_ of marshmallows to our campout the other day." Finally, Nora brought herself to a halt. "So... you coming?"

Jaune looked behind him, taking another sip from his coffee, looking nervous. "Well, y'see..."

"You busy today, too?" Nora asked, her smile starting to fade.

Suddenly, Jaune turned around to face her again, seeing the distress in her eyes. He bit his lip, then finally shook his head. "Nah, I've got nothing going on. I've never been the fairgrounds before, though- mind leading the way?"

Nora immediately lit up like a Christmas tree. "Of course! Team Nora's Arc, away!"

"Nora's wh-aaaaaaaaaa!"

Jaune began his question, but it quickly transformed into a yelp as Nora seized him by the arm and continued her tear through the streets from earlier, now with the blond boy in tow.

XXXX

At their pace, it didn't take long before they arrived in front of the Fairgrounds, where a crowd was already beginning to form around the entrances. "Well, we're not _too_ late!" Nora declared brightly, looking around with a hand over her eyes to block the emerging sun. "Just hope Pyrrha doesn't take too long..."

"Yeah... don't want to... wait in line... too long..." Jaune panted, still winded from sprinting to keep up with the girl in pink.

"Do you have a watch or something?" Nora asked over her shoulder as she continued to scan around for a red head of hair.

"It's... uh... a quarter til..." Jaune gasped, still bent over on his knees.

"Well, we've got some time, then," Nora nodded, only to brighten up again when she spied a large, panting ginger making her way through the crowds.

"Glad to see you here, Nora," Pyrrha smiled as she made her way over. "I know we agreed on ten, but then I thought-" Pyrrha froze when she spied the boy standing behind Nora, the red of her hair suddenly spreading across her cheeks as well. "Uh... um..."

Jaune finally straightened up, rising to his feet. "Oh, Pyrrha!" he smiled. "Glad to see you made it!"

"Right!" Pyrrha gave a remarkably forced-looking smile before rounding on Nora. "Mind if Nora and I step aside real quick?"

"Huh? Oh, sure, I guess," Jaune shrugged.

"Thanks," Pyrrha nodded, before turning and pulling Nora a few feet away before rounding on her. " _What is Jaune doing here?_ "

"I spied him with my little eye just standing alone on the sidewalk," Nora recalled. "He looked so alone, I offered him my extra ticket!" Looking suddenly worried, she added, "Should I not have?"

Pyrrha bit her lip, looking back at Jaune, who, in the absence of anyone to talk to, was wandering around one spot, gazing from the ground to the sky and back again. "No... no, it's fine, it's just that..." She could _feel_ the red growing in her cheeks.

The red only deepened when she turned to see Nora's mouth opening in a perfect O shape. "I see what's going on here," she said slowly, her mouth starting to form into a grin.

"Nora," Pyrrha muttered warningly.

"You and him..."

"Beep _beep,_ Nora..."

"You _like_ him, don't you?!"

Pyrrha winced, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Jaune hadn't heard Nora's outburst. "Well... I don't _not_ like him," she whispered, cringing at herself.

"WHOO!" Nora cheered, causing Pyrrha to wince again as Jaune threw a quick curious glance back at them. Nora quickly lowered her voice again, though her grin remained wide. "Well, don't you worry, Pyrrha- Nora's on your side!"

"Nora," Pyrrha spoke up, but Nora was building up a head of steam.

"I vow to help you in any way I can!" Nora exclaimed, raising her left hand and placing her right over her heart. "This is my chance- I've always wanted to be a wingman!" She stopped for a brief second, a hand rising to her chin. "Or would that be wingwoman? Wingman? Wingwoman?" She shook her head. "Not important- the only thing important here is-"

"Beep beep, Nora!" Pyrrha raised her voice, and Nora finally brought herself to a halt. "Look, it's great and all, that you want to help, but..." She looked down at her feet. "Maybe you should just leave it for now. I mean... someone like him... and someone like me..."

"Ooohhh," Nora returned to her O-mouthed expression. "You're worried because of this?" She reached out and patted Pyrrha on the stomach.

"That- that's part of it, yes," Pyrrha shied away. "A... a not insignificant part..."

"Come on, Pyrrha," Nora rolled her eyes. "I can tell he's not that kind of guy."

"Nora, you just met him earlier today," Pyrrha pointed out.

"And you've known him longer than I have, so you tell me- do you honestly think he'll care?" Nora asked.

Pyrrha looked back at Jaune, currently bending over at a nearby water fountain. She sighed. "Nora- for now, why don't we just go in?"

"Okey-dokey, Pyrrha!" Nora grinned brightly. She turned and called out, "Oh, Jaune! We're ready to head in!"

"Sounds good to me!" Jaune called back, smiling as he made his way back over to them.

The wait in line was excruciating- for Nora because she hated standing in one place, for Pyrrha because she was blushing violently the whole time, struggling to think of anything to do or say in this odd new situation she'd been thrown into.

At long last, they passed the stile and entered the Fairgrounds, where Nora began to lead them around like an overexcited child with her parents, Jaune and Pyrrha pouring most of their energy just into keeping up. One moment, they were getting some funnel cake from a vendor, the next, they were being dragged into a Tilt-a-Whirl.

As they were dragged into this latter, Pyrrha noticed Jaune turning green. "Um... Nora?" he almost squeaked out. "Maybe we shouldn't-"

"Too late, we're in!" Nora crowed, dragging them aboard.

As the ride started, it became rapidly apparent why Jaune hadn't been keen on the idea- throughout the ride, he became increasingly greener and greener, and when it finally ended, his first reaction was to stagger over to a nearby trash can and empty the contents of his stomach into it.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried out in concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... yeah... I just get a little motion sick, is all..."

"That... was... AWESOME!" came Nora's voice, as she appeared behind them. "Oh, it's always so great when the fair is in- something wrong, Jaune?"

"Motion sickness," Pyrrha explained on the boy's behalf, as he was interrupted by another bout of nausea.

"Oh- sorry," Nora apologized, looking sheepish again. "I guess Pyrrha and I should go the rides alone from now on, huh?"

"Probably... for the best..." Jaune agreed.

Things tended to go better for the rest of the day, as they darted around, Pyrrha and Nora hopping on rides every now and again, allowing themselves to get flung around, up and down, and in circles every which way, often while Jaune helped himself to more snack-food or plotted their course towards the next attraction. There was an animal show going on in one corner of the grounds that they all managed to enjoy, and there were plenty of occasions in which Nora attempted to convince Jaune to play the many games dotted around, encouraging him to win a prize for Pyrrha. "I mean, come _on,_ if you're not going on the rides, you can at least enjoy the games!"

So far, however, the only game he'd managed to win was bouncing a ball off a backboard and into a basket, fetching a small zebra that, at Nora's insistence, he'd passed to Pyrrha. Pyrrha smiled as she accepted it. "Thank you very much, Jaune."

"Yeah... feel free to ditch it as soon as Nora looks the other way," Jaune shrugged, eyes looking around almost sadly.

Pyrrha did not throw it away. In point of fact, she still had it almost thirty years later when she received a call on her scroll from the town of Vale, even long after she had ceased to remember why it was so important to her in the first place.

XXXX

The sun was beginning to set by the time Nora got another idea into her head- and, of course, when she got an idea, it _would_ be fulfilled. "Oh- I know a ride Jaune can handle!"

"Are you sure?" Jaune asked, nerves already showing in his voice.

"Re _lax,_ Jaune!" Nora chirped. "What do you think about a Ferris Wheel?"

Jaune blinked. "That- that doesn't sound that bad, actually..."

Ignoring Pyrrha suddenly glowing bright red, already seeing where Nora was going with this, Nora dragged them off towards the center of the Fair, above which the Ferris Wheel towered. "Two for the Ferris Wheel!" she gleefully told the attendant, before turning to force her friends into the nearest cart. "In you go, you guys!"

"You're not coming with us?" Jaune asked, confused. Pyrrha didn't bother asking- she could already read Nora's intentions like an open book.

"Nah, it would be _way_ too cramped in there," Nora waved aside, beaming.

"It looks like it can sit four people at a time..." Jaune commented, glancing in.

"And Pyrrha counts as three!" Nora brushed aside quickly, throwing an apologetic glance at Pyrrha, who didn't need it- she was still struggling to get over Nora's plan, let alone whatever excuses she came up with to fulfil it. "In you go!"

Jaune shrugged and clambered in, Pyrrha reluctantly following right behind. Nora grinned widely as she watched the wheel begin to turn. Yeah, she was officially the best wingman-wingwoman- whatever- ever.

XXXX

Initially, Pyrrha sat as far away from Jaune as was possible- not very far, in other words- and determinedly looked everywhere except at him. Finally, though, she felt she could hardly sit out this entire ride without speaking. "So... did you cut your hair?" She immediately cringed- of course she'd noticed that he'd cut his hair. It would be difficult _not_ to- it had previously fallen down to the middle of his back in long tangles not that dissimilar to Yang, but now only covered his head.

"Oh, yeah," Jaune nodded, looking rather uncomfortable himself. "I... er... decided it was time for a change of pace, you know?"

"Mmm-hmm," Pyrrha nodded, pursing her lips. "Mmm-hmm."

"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say Nora was trying to get us together," Jaune smiled at her.

Pyrrha stared for a moment- was he really that dense? "Well... Nora tends to get pretty... enthusiastic."

"I noticed," Jaune chuckled. "How long have you known her?"

"Hmm?" Pyrrha blinked. "Actually- less than a week. I met her the day after school ended- I guess she just... wears her heart on her sleeves."

Jaune nodded. "I was getting that feeling, yeah..."

"I guess we're... part of a group, you could say," Pyrrha leaned back in her seat, gazing out of the window as they began to rise. "I've only known them for a few days now, but it already feels like I've known them my whole life..."

"It must be nice," Jaune said, and Pyrrha looked up to see a wan smile on his face. "To have people like that in your life."

"Yeah," Pyrrha nodded, smiling back. "They're pretty great."

XXXX

Nora smiled, blocking the sun with her hand again as she watched the Wheel begin to turn. She was confident that this would work out wonderfully- they'd start dating after this, and eventually get married, and she could be one of Pyrrha's bridesmaids _and_ Jaune's best man, all at once! It was perfect!

Casually, she turned, glancing across the lane, and spotted another attraction out of the corner of her eye. The haunted house. Huh, she always _did_ like the haunted house. Wait, had they repurposed it? She didn't _recall_ the haunted house being dubbed _The Salem Witch Experience._ She jaunted over and addressed the attendant. "The Salem Witch Experience?"

"Oh, yeah, we remodeled the haunted house based on that movie that came out last year- _The Salem Witch Project_ ," the attendant explained offhandedly. "Want to go in?"

Nora glanced back at the wheel. Well, she couldn't imagine this taking _too_ long...

"Sign me up!" she grinned. The attendant shrugged, checked her ticket, and stepped aside to let her pass.

Nora kept up her usual skipping even as she entered the building, which bore an uncanny resemblance to the House on Vickery Lane. Everything was nice and dusty at first, cloths placed over everything in a clear effort to communicate ghostly vibes.

Looking back, Nora remembered seeing _The Salem Witch Project_ in theaters with Yang and the others. It was about a group of college students heading to a town called Salem to shoot a documentary about the legend of the witch that had once haunted the area- only to find themselves terrorized by the real thing. Yang had been entranced by the marketing, pitching the film as a documentation of real events, and had immediately challenged her friends to sit through the movie with her. Nora had been up for it, of course. Blake had shrugged and agreed to go, while Weiss had looked for practically any excuse to get out of it, only to take up the challenge when Yang had none-too-subtly called her a chicken.

In all honesty, the movie had kind of bored Nora. Blake had praised it for a skillful use of minimalism, trying to explain to her friends that less was often more, but there simply wasn't enough happening throughout the runtime to keep Nora's interest- though the design of the witch herself almost made up for it. When she finally appeared at the film's end, she was quite a sight- tall, imposing, her skin an unhealthy, dead-looking white with black cracks etched all over, black eyes with red irises, the only signs of humanity at all being the elegant hairstyle she wore. It was kind of funny, Nora thought, that in the year or so since, the witch seemed to have been given the name Salem by fans of the movie, despite never having a real name within the film itself- Salem was just the name of the town she was from. Then again, she thought, maybe it made it less scary for some people to have _something_ to call her.

That said, there was very little in the house that brought memories of that movie to mind. She couldn't shake the suspicion that this was the exact same haunted house she went through every year, just renamed. Maybe she'd run into a figure of the Salem Witch at some point, but that would likely be the only difference.

Eventually, she came to a room full of mannequins, all in different poses. The light was dim, mostly coming from a nearby window through which the rays of the setting sun penetrated. She had truly chosen a good time to come in- the light created a nice ambience that was the perfect setting for a haunted house. The only thing better would be if she were going through during a thunderstorm.

She was skipping through this room, too, when she heard a soft voice- "Nora..."

Nora spun around. Had someone followed her in? "Hello?"

"Nora..." the voice repeated. It wasn't coming from the beaten path through the building- it was coming from the mannequins, prompting Nora to squint as she looked through them for the source.

Finally, she saw it- she saw _her._ Walking through the mannequins was a short woman with long hair, falling pink on one side, brown on the other. Her eyes were heterochromic, and around her lower face was wrapped a large, silken black scarf. "Am I... beautiful, Nora?" the woman asked, the scarf not moving at all despite her voice.

Nora froze, memories of the campfire rushing back to her. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, truly at a loss for words for the first time in years.

"Am... I... beautiful?" the woman asked, steadily reaching up towards the scarf. A shard of glass seemed to pierce Nora's heart- she abruptly knew that no matter what, she did _not_ want that scarf removed.

But it was too late- the woman's hand pulled, and the scarf unraveled, revealing a gaping, open maw, sharp teeth within a mouth that was cut open all the way to the ear on either side. "Am I beautiful?" the woman repeated, a dark grin showing itself despite the hideously deformed mouth.

Blake had given advice- she had said to do something if she ever met this creature... but she couldn't remember what...

The woman was growing closer, and from behind, she produced a knife- long, thin, and wickedly sharp. "If I am beautiful, then join me in my beauty..."

The memory came back. "Am _I_ beautiful?" Nora asked back, her heart racing. To her immense surprise, the woman actually stopped, tilting her head as if in surprise or confusion. That was all Nora needed to see- she turned and sprinted like her life depended on it- from what she had seen, it very well might.

She tore through the remainder of the haunted house, paying no heed to any of the remaining scares, missing even the life-size model of the Salem Witch as she descended on her- but Nora was too busy dashing to the exit. Finally, she found it, rushing back out into the fairgrounds, stopping only once she was assured that she was surrounded by the rest of the crowd, bending over to her knees and panting, struggling to bring her heart rate back under control.

"Nora?"

Nora jumped as she spun around to see Pyrrha and Jaune, back on the ground and looking concerned. "Is something wrong?" Jaune asked.

"Th-th-the woman..." Nora panted. "Pyrrha... the woman..."

"You saw her?" Pyrrha asked, suddenly turning pale. "She's _here?_ "

Nora nodded rapidly.

Jaune looked bewilderedly from one girl to the other. "Woman? What woman?"

Pyrrha turned to him, looking dead serious. "We have to go. Now."

"What's going on?" Jaune asked, confused.

"We'll explain later- for now, we have to _leave._ "

Nora nodded. "Just... let me breath for another-"

"Well, well, well, look what we have here," came a new voice, causing all three present to wince.

Behind them was Team CRDL. All of them this time. Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark, and now accompanied by the fourth member, Russel Thrush, the tallest member aside from Cardin, with bizarre hair dyed blue and green, shaved into an odd-looking mohawk. He was well-known as Cardin's second-in-command, and inspired just as much fear- in fact, some students feared him even more than Cardin himself.

"A fatty, a faggot, and a spaz," Cardin smirked as the group moved to surround them. "You know, Piggah, I never paid you back for what you did the other day..."

"Back off, Cardin," came a surprisingly firm voice, prompting Nora and Pyrrha alike to turn in surprise to confirm that yes, that was Jaune- the same timid boy that they'd been hanging out with all day, who couldn't even stand the tilt-a-whirl, but who was now standing up to Cardin, despite being far shorter. Jaune had to tilt his head up to look at Cardin, but he stood firm, his eyes showing no fear. "We don't need any of your crap today."

"I can tell pinky over here doesn't," came Sky's taunting voice. "We saw her running scared out of the haunted house. What, did da widdle mannequins scare ya?"

"Not really," Nora shook her head. "But now that I think about it, I didn't need to go in there at all- if I really wanted to be scared, I could have just called you over to look at your faces!"

Pyrrha placed her face in her palm, as the smile left Team CRDL's faces- except for Russel. "You're gonna regret that, spaz," he grinned, cracking his knuckles. "Mind if I go all-out on these losers, Cardin?"

"Go crazy," Cardin nodded, his brow furrowed as he glared at them.

"No!" Jaune yelled, ducking forward and kicking Russel's legs. Russel staggered backwards, giving the three just enough time to duck out through the gap he'd created. "Run!" Jaune yelled, and they did. All three of them sprinted away as fast as their legs could carry them, weaving through the Fair as they made their way to the exit, an unspoken agreement passing between them- they'd had enough fun for the day.

Even after making their way back out through the gate, they continued running, long after it had ceased to become necessary. Nora glanced at her comrades, glad to see Pyrrha keeping up, and realized something- Pyrrha, Jaune, herself- they were all _smiling._ Despite the immense danger they'd just been in, they were running together now, and _enjoying_ it.

They didn't stop until the Fair was no longer in sight- on a grassy hill near the outskirts of Vale. Finally, they collapsed in a heap, gasping for breath, but laughing all the same. "Nice... workout... huh... Pyrrha?" Nora panted.

"I think... I'll be good... for a week or two..." Pyrrha agreed, struggling to even nod at this point.

"Hey, g-guys! What're you all d-doing?"

They looked up to see Yang approaching, another kid next to her that none of them recognized.

"We just got back... from the Fair," Nora explained between continued gulps of air. "We bumped into... Team Curdle."

"I see," Yang's eyes narrowed.

"Who's your friend?" Pyrrha asked.

Yang glanced to her side. "Oh, we just m-met- b-bumped into each other on th-the way b-back from the r-range." Glancing at Jaune, she added, "Th-though I c-could ask you the s-same."

"Jaune Arc," Pyrrha introduced him. "A friend from Beacon. He helped us with Curdle." Drawing closer, she practically whispered, "And he could use some friends, too."

Yang smiled, and Nora suddenly realized something. She knew Yang, and Pyrrha, and Jaune... but that friend Yang had met earlier? She might as well have just been a shadow- a silhouette made to fill up the population of Vale. Oh, maybe she was a good person on her own- Nora wouldn't doubt it, otherwise she wouldn't be with Yang right now- but she wasn't a member of Team Loser. And she knew, before Yang even said anything, that Jaune was. He simply was, from the moment she'd laid eyes on him, or perhaps from the moment he'd met Pyrrha. Perhaps he and Pyrrha had both been members of Team Loser long before either of them had met up with the main team- perhaps before the team had even been formed. It felt like some sort of destiny that they were together now- a destiny that this other girl- the silhouette- would simply never be part of.

 _We're like a team in that game Blake likes to play- Cisterns and Centaurs, or something like that? Some great big group brought together by fate- but if that's true, then do we have everybody? Is there anyone missing?_

She shook her head- her thoughts were straying towards craziness even by _her_ standards now. Nonetheless, there was no surprise in her heart when, later that day, after the silhouette-girl had left, Yang turned to Jaune and asked him that simple question-

"So, Jaune, how would you feel about joining Team Loser?"

 _XXXX_

17... 18... 19 pages. I think it's safe to say- though I'll double-check when I upload- that this is the longest chapter for this story yet. Again, hope that doesn't put anyone off, that some chapters are so much longer than others. Next chapter will probably be a fair bit shorter, regardless. Whether you prefer longer or shorter chapters, or don't care one way or the other, be sure to let me know- please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	18. Yang Xiao Long Investigates a House (C)

Gamer4 in. Like I said, this chapter is projected to be shorter than the last couple, but I've been wrong on _many_ occasions before, so let's see how that pans out. Diving right in.

Disclaimer: There's a line that we'll cross where there's no return, there's a time and a place, no bridges left to burn anymore!

Chapter XVII

Yang Xiao Long Investigates a House

By the time Yang extended her offer to Jaune, the other girl (Ilia Amitola, as Yang referred to her,) had already made her departure, leaving only Pyrrha, Nora, and Yang herself to smile in amusement as he blinked in surprise. "Me?" he squeaked out.

"I dunno, Yang," Nora piped up, smiling mischievously at him. "Do we really want someone this boneheaded in the group?"

"We've already got _you,_ " Pyrrha pointed out with a smirk.

"What're you talking about?" Nora cried back, feigning offense. "I'll have you know I'm the smarterest person in this town! I'm the one who thought to bring Jaune to the fair, aren't I?"

"This is true," Pyrrha nodded, smiling as she turned back to Jaune. "Though, I'm sure he could have done without your idea to go on the Tilt-a-Whirl."

"How was _I_ supposed to know he gets motion sick?" Nora objected.

"M-motion sickness?" Yang asked, mischief sparking behind her crystalline eyes.

"Oh, yeah," Nora nodded brightly, ignoring Jaune's gestures to _please_ shut up. "He kept getting greener the whole time, until he got off and started puking up all over-"

"Beep beep, Nora!" Jaune finally shouted, using the same phrase he'd heard Pyrrha using.

Silence fell, and Jaune turned red. "Did... did I say something wrong?" he asked, kicking nervously at the dirt.

Yang shook her head, smiling. "W-welcome to the t-t-team," she beamed as she extended her hand towards him. Jaune looked from one smiling face to the next before offering a somewhat weak one of his own as he accepted Yang's hand- only to find himself wrenched into one of her trademark bear hugs.

"Oof- Yang... choking... can't breath..."

Nora and Pyrrha noticed Jaune turning red, and immediately deduced several possible causes. Nora smirked, while Pyrrha turned a distinct shade of red of her own as she began trying to pry Jaune away from his fellow blond. "Alright, Yang, that's enough."

"S-sorry, sorry," Yang chuckled, releasing him and leaving him to fall to the ground, rubbing his chest and gasping for breath. "S-so, if you w-were having such a g-g-good time at the f-fair, why l-leave so early?"

Pyrrha and Nora suddenly paled as the memory came back, while Jaune looked up with confusion in his eyes. "Yeah... now that you mention it, what _was_ with that? I mean, I know we ran into Curdle, but even before that, Nora came running out of the Haunted House yelling about... a woman?"

Jaune slowed to a halt when he saw Yang turning pale as well, her eyes widening to match Pyrrha and Nora. "Guys? Is- is something wrong?"

"N-N-Nora... you s-saw her, t-t-too?" Yang asked, her stutter starting to worsen.

"Yeah," Nora nodded, biting a lip. "She was there."

"Guys, what's going on?" Jaune asked, the others' nerves starting to spread to his face as well. "Who's 'her?'"

The three girls exchanged a glance that clearly said the same thing- Jaune wouldn't believe the full truth, but they could hardly tell him nothing at all. "W-w-we th-think we've s-s-seen the k-kidnapper," Yang explained- careful to leave out some of the more fantastic parts. "W-we've all r-run into h-her at s-some point n-now..."

"The kidnapper?" Jaune started squeaking again. "You've _seen_ her? Who is it?"

"Nobody we know," Pyrrha stepped in, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's- there's a woman. She... she tends to look different, but she always has different-colored hair- it's pink on one side, brown on the other. Her eyes are like that, too- different colors. And... we're certain she's the one."

"Have you told anyone?" Jaune asked immediately.

Yang scoffed. "Wh-who d'ya th-think would b-b-believe us?" she asked. "N-no one else h-has s-s-seen her, and we d-don't have any p-p-proof."

"There has to be _someone_ -" Jaune started, but this time, Nora spoke up, shaking her head somewhat sadly.

"There's no one to tell. Yang's already tried- and if she can't convince _her_ father, nobody can."

Jaune cast his eyes down. Yang spoke up again, a little more gently this time. "Y-you're welcome t-to tell _your_ p-p-parents, if you w-want."

"I can't," Jaune admitted shamefacedly. "My Dad's out of town... and I know my Mom won't listen."

The girls looked up at each other, then steadily approached the blond boy, giving him a one-armed hug each. "J-just k-keep on the l-l-lookout, Vomit B-Boy," Yang muttered quietly. "I d-don't want to l-lose anyone else."

Jaune looked up, his mouth opening in surprise, only to stop as he felt a hand on his shoulder- he turned to see Pyrrha shaking her head solemnly. "Right," he nodded. "Sorry... but I should probably get going now."

"I'll walk you home," Pyrrha immediately spoke up.

"No, no, you don't have to-"

"It's fine," Pyrrha shook her head. "Doctor Oobleck just made us promise not to go out alone anyways, right guys?" She turned her head imploringly to Yang and Nora.

The two got the message immediately, and nodded. "That he did," Nora added her voice and a half-hearted smile into the equation. "That he did."

"Alright," Jaune gave a smile of consent. "Then let's go."

Yang and Nora smiled as they watched the two head off back into the town before Yang turned to Nora, her face suddenly deadly serious. "So... can I assume you believe us now?"

Nora closed her eyes for a moment, her memory returning to the night of the campfire, when she'd volunteered to walk Yang home, and the conversation that had ensued.

XXXX

It had been much darker that night- the sun was well below the horizon by the time they'd even begun to tell their stories, much less by the time Oobleck showed up to order them back home. They were somewhat reliant on the streetlights to guide their way, and after what had happened, an awkward silence of sorts began to set in. It was Yang that eventually broke it. "S-s-so... what is it, N-Nora?"

"You're absolutely _certain_ you saw Ruby?" Nora asked, skipping the preamble, as ever.

"I'd b-b-bet my life on it," Yang had replied, her eyes as serious as they could get without literally turning red. "I _kn-know_ what I s-s-saw, Nora."

Nora examined her face for a moment, then nodded. "Gotcha."

Yang narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Y-You d-d-don't believe us, d-do you?"

"I believe you saw _something,_ " Nora answered truthfully. "We know there's _someone_ out here, and all your stories sounded pretty similar... but you have to admit that they sounded kinda... _out there_ at times, right?"

Yang's eyes faltered, then began to lower. "Y-Yeah... I guess s-so..."

"I just wanna be sure," Nora shrugged. "I mean, you say you saw this woman with Ruby... and let's be honest, you've kinda had Ruby on the brain ever since..." She trailed off, unable to bring up the incident itself.

Yang's eyes snapped back up, _now_ tinted with red. "Of _course_ I've had her on my mind- she's my _sister!_ "

"I get it, I get it!" Nora amended quickly, rasing her hands. "I'm just saying that maybe you imagined at least _part_ of what you saw- I mean, it was in the basement, you said?"

"...Yeah," Yang nodded.

"So it was pretty dark, wasn't it?"

"N-Not enough for me to m-mistake anything f-for my _s-s-sister_!" Yang repeated firmly.

Nora paused, rasing a hand to her chin in contemplation. "Yang, you know I love you, but... sometimes, when you have your heart set on something, you _really_ throw yourself into it... and with something like this..."

Yang groaned in agitation. "Nora, n-not _you,_ t-t-too! You're st-starting to sound like D-Dad!"

The venom with which she spoke those words gave Nora pause. "Did... did something happen between you two?" she asked tentatively.

Yang froze again, looking at the ground. "I... I th-th-think..." She trailed off.

Nora drew closer, and, sure enough, she was muttering that mantra again. "-m-m-middle of July, I burn... hotter than the sun in the middle of July, I burn..." Finally, she looked up. "I th-think... D-Dad blames me f-for what happened."

"What?!" Nora cried, only to silence herself as a dog in a nearby yard suddenly started barking. They increased their pace until the dog was out of earshot, then Nora rounded on Yang again, speaking in somewhat quieter tones. "What makes you think that? Did he say anything? Because if he did..."

Ignoring her friend cracking her knuckles, Yang shook her head. "N-N-Nothing he's _s-said,_ exactly... b-but there's b-b-been a... I d-don't kn-know how to say it... a _wall,_ I g-guess, ever s-since... ever since sh-she..."

Nora didn't need to hear the rest, reaching out and patting her friend on the shoulder. "He's been quiet?"

"S-something l-like that," Yang muttered. "It- it's almost l-like he's n-not there at all, s-s-sometimes. L-like everything h-he had was f-for R-Ruby, and w-without her, there's n-n-nothing l-left f-for..." Her stutter steadily worsened until she couldn't talk at all. Nora gave her some breathing room, allowing her to collect herself and utter her mantra a few more times before continuing. "I-It's l-like she's still there... b-but she's not. Not her... m-more like a... a gh-ghost. She sits b-between us wh-when we're w-watching tv, sh-she's w-watching at the d-dinner t-table... and w-we c-can't... w-we c-can't..." Yang shook her head again. "I d-don't kn-know, b-but I _d-do_ know she w-wouldn't... she w-wouldn't be doing it if... if it w-weren't m-my fault that..."

"Stop," Nora spoke up, and when Yang looked, she saw Nora looking surprisingly serious. "Yang, stop. I can't let you keep beating yourself up like this! Ruby's not haunting you, Yang. She loved you- you were her everything!"

"Th-then _wh-why_ did I let her-" Yang started, but Nora interrupted.

"What, you _planned_ for her to get snatched off the street by some freak when you sent her out to play?" she objected. "Was that why you made her that boat? What, did you make sure it would sail right towards a kidnapper? Because I know you, Yang, and that doesn't sound like you at all!"

"Of c-course n-not," Yang's eyes widened, "b-but st-still-"

"B-but st-still nothing!" Nora interrupted again. "Yang, look back on that last day- _really_ look back- and _you_ tell _me-_ did you do _anything_ worth beating yourself up over?"

Yang cast her mind back as far as it would go- to the morning she'd woken up feeling like her insides were suddenly struggling to get out. She had gotten out of bed and staggered into the bathroom, mentally associating the illness and the fever it brought with it with the bizarre dreams she'd had the night before. She remembered very little of the dreams now- just a tall man carrying a cane and smelling strongly of coffee.

What had happened next? Her father had ordered her to stay in bed for the remainder of the day, outfitting her room with a bucket with a clear inch of water at the bottom to catch any sick that saw fit to evacuate her stomach, and providing a large pitcher of water that he had made a point to refill every time it ran low. He had then gone about preparing some basic chicken noodle soup for her, which Ruby had been only too happy to bring up to her before initiating the conversation that had eventually led to the folding of the boat.

Struggle all she might, Yang could recall no hostility between the sisters on that day, or the day before, or at any point before that- their last true argument had been months and months before the day of the boat, over something Yang could no longer recall. In fact, when that day came, they'd been happier than at any other point- happy because they would finally be attending the same school together after years apart. Yang recalled her feelings as she folded the boat- no animosity, no anger, nothing even verging slightly on annoyance- only love for the sister she was folding it for. She had done it because her sister had truly wanted to do it, and the only reason she hadn't gone out with her was because of the sickness- something that was entirely out of her hands.

Yang blinked, noticing tears forming in her eyes. She looked up at Nora, who gazed back at her with nothing but sympathy in her turquoise eyes. "I... I m-miss her so m-much..."

Nora stepped forward, and Yang fell, sobbing, into her waiting arms. "So do I," Nora nodded, running a hand through Yang's hair and patting her on the back, struggling to hold back tears of her own. "So do I."

XXXX

Nora opened her eyes, snapping herself back to the present, _after_ she'd eventually left Yang off at her home, returning to her own, _after_ she'd gone to the fair with Pyrrha and Jaune, and _after_ Yang brought all these memories back to mind.

"I believed you already," she answered. "I just... I guess I wasn't sure about the whole 'Ruby-was-there' or 'she was suddenly a faunus-or-angel' thing."

"And now?"

"...I'm still not sure," Nora admitted, gripping a shoulder and looking out towards the sunset. "I... I guess it's a lot more possible..."

"Wh-what did _y-you_ see?"

Nora bit her lip. "She- she was wearing a scarf," she recalled. "When she took it off... her mouth was cut open."

Yang closed her eyes. "Th-the... K-k-kuch-kucha..."

"Kuchisake-Onna," Nora recalled, having practically burned the name into her mind. "She pulled out a knife... nearly had it in me before I ran..."

Yang paced around a bit, before finally seeming to come to a decision, rounding on Nora. "N-Nora... m-meet me at the n-n-noodle stand t-tomorrow- b-bring a weapon."

"Huh?"

"W-we're g-going after her."

Nora froze. "Whoah, whoah- what d'ya _mean,_ we're going after her?"

"Wh-what I s-said," Yang stood firm. "T-tomorrow, I'm g-going to take D-Dad's gun and g-go to the H-House on V-Vickery Lane. I'll f-find this w-woman and _f-force_ her to t-tell me where R-R-Ruby is."

Nora bit her lip- there were plenty of lines for her to attack here, but she started with the most obvious. "What makes you think she's on Vickery Lane?"

"W-Weiss's story," Yang answered right back. "It's th-the only one th-that happened n-near a h-house except f-for mine- and I _kn-know_ she's not staying in m-mine."

"What if you're wrong?"

"Th-then I w-won't have l-lost anything," Yang shrugged off. "Th-then I'll start l-looking somewhere else."

"And what if you're _right?_ "

"...Huh?" It was Yang's turn to sound confused.

"What if she _is_ in there?" Nora asked, and Yang realized, with a jolt of shock, that Nora was scared. "What if she's in there, and any weapons we bring aren't enough, and she takes us, too?"

Yang hesitated for a moment. "N-Nora..." She spoke slowly- more slowly than usual, as if every word was being carefully weighed before it was spoken. "I-if you d-don't want to c-come... I won't m-make you. I d-don't plan on c-calling any of the others, either- I only asked y-you because I f-figured if _anyone_ w-wanted in, it would be y-you."

Nora bit her lip. "But you're going, no matter what?"

"Yes," Yang answered firmly. Nora looked up, and was suddenly struck by something- a glimpse, perhaps, of the Yang that both Pyrrha and Ruby had seen already- a fierce leader, a hero who would wade into impossible odds where others turned their backs- and might- just _might-_ be strong enough to come out on top. It sounded stupid, but in that moment, Nora was struck by the thought that if there was _anyone_ who could track down this psycho, it was Yang Xiao Long.

"Yes," Yang repeated. "I'm going in tomorrow, even if it's alone. First, I'll go home, and I'll see it again- how Ruby's not there. I can look around all I want, and that's all I'll see- that she's _not there._ Her books, her blankets, that stupid toy scythe she always carried everywhere... but not her. _That's_ why I'm going in tomorrow- no matter what's in that house, walking into it will _still_ be easier than walking into my own."

With that, Yang turned and walked away, leaving Nora standing, stunned, on the hilltop. Not just by Yang's words...

But by the fact that she hadn't stuttered once as she'd said them.

XXXX

The next day, Yang appeared at A Simple Wok, just as she'd promised. In all honesty, she had her doubts that Nora would turn up, but she resolved to at least give her a chance.

A chance she earned when, only a few minutes after Yang herself arrived, Nora came rushing over the horizon. Yang couldn't help smiling. "D-D-Decided to come along a-after all, huh?"

"Yup," Nora nodded brightly, though not, perhaps, as brightly as was usual for her. She reached into a bag at her side and produced a large hammer. "And I brought a weapon!"

"You r-r-really want to g-get up close and p-p-personal with this thing?" Yang asked skeptically. To emphasize her point, she held out her father's gun- a fairly standard pistol.

Nora shrugged. "My parents wouldn't let me anywhere near a gun."

Yang shrugged. "Th-that's why w-we were at the r-range in the f-first place. He w-wants me t-to be able to p-protect myself if I run into the k-kidnapper."

"I bet he didn't expect you to go _after_ her, though, did he?"

Yang turned away pointedly. "N-no... I don't think he d-d-did."

Looking back, she spied something else tucked away in Nora's bag. "Y-you have s-something else in th-there?"

"Huh?" Nora grunted in surprise, looking deeper into her bag. "Oh, that- I picked up some itching powder from the prank store the other day- I was planning on getting Weiss with it, but Blake told me people have been known to scratch their skin off if they get covered in this stuff- it's not worth the risk. I just want to prank Weiss, not kill her!"

Yang opened and closed her mouth a couple times, before shaking her head with a slight smile. "W-well, it might be a g-good distraction, at least. C-come on, we're taking Bumblebee."

Nora looked up from her bag to see Yang's beloved bicycle propped up against the stand. "Really? We're both going on her?"

"She's the f-fastest bike we h-h-have," Yang pointed out. "N-not that I intend to l-leave without R-R-Ruby, but if we _n-need_ a quick g-getaway..."

Nora nodded, seeing the logic in her friend's words. "Alright, then- let's get going!"

Yang hopped on to Bumblebee's seat, Nora right behind her, clinging onto her like a sloth. For the first time that day, Yang smirked as she set her bike into motion. "Come on, Bumblebee, let's roll!"

XXXX

As energetic as they were at the outset, a certain level of solemnity set in as they drew closer to the House- as it started to fully set in exactly what they were doing. Nora in particular missed a heartbeat when she saw the House's rotting shingles appearing at the edge of her vision. And Bumblebee was carrying them closer... and closer...

Finally, they disembarked right in front of the overgrown lawn, leaving Bumblebee standing on the dilapidated sidewalk as they drew closer. "You're- uh, you're _sure_ you don't want to get the others involved?" Nora asked nervously as they rooted through the tall grass for a path to the front door.

"Jaune and P-Pyrrha are t-too new- I c-can't ask them to d-do something l-like this," Yang immediately responded. "W-Weiss couldn't g-get over here if sh-she _wanted_ t-to, and B-Blake d-doesn't b-believe at all." As she spoke, she was running her hands over the pistol, examining it closely.

"I guess..." Nora agreed half-heartedly, eyeing one of the trees that seemed suddenly like a claw on the verge of reaching out and grabbing her. She held onto her hammer a little tighter. "Yang... exactly how much ammo do you have for that thing?"

"F-f-fifteen shots," Yang answered promptly. "One f-full c-clip. Th-that's all Dad w-will give me at o-once. B-but that should b-be enough."

"If you say so," Nora nodded uneasily.

Slowly, the two stepped over the myriad weeds and broken stones along the path, finally arriving on the porch. Yang held her gun at the ready, Nora ready to swing her hammer at a moment's notice.

Gently, Yang reached out and tried the doorknob. It opened with remarkable ease. The two stepped through, making sure to leave the door open behind them.

The first thing that registered with them was the smell of rot, dust, and decay. The inside of the House on Vickery Lane was precisely what one would expect upon seeing it from the outside- very little furniture, all covered in white sheets, cobwebs everywhere, dim light filtering through filthy or broken windows, and odd architecture that gave the impression that the building was from another epoch of time. Nora felt very strongly that even if they weren't trying to sneak around, she'd have treaded lightly for fear that the floor would give out under her.

She looked to Yang, who raised a finger to her lips before pointing up a nearby flight of stairs. Nora bit a lip, but nodded, following the blond as they mounted it and began climbing one slow, painstaking step at a time. Nora would normally be bored, moving so slow, but her heart was racing, loud enough that she was almost certain that the woman would be able to hear it, if she was, indeed, in this House.

They turned on the landing, stepping across a carpet whose color was impossible to discern beneath the thick layer of dust. Another flight of stairs, and they were in the upper floor's hallway.

It split off in two directions. Glancing from side to side, it became immediately apparent that there would be no going that way- the floor actually _had_ rotted away down that path, leaving no way to access the rooms it had once led to. Instead, they took a turn to the left and continued at what was almost a crawl.

There were two doors at the end of the hallway- one at the very end, and one just to the left. The one at the very end was very easy to see through- it was one of the broken windows, allowing sunlight to pour in from the outside, revealing an old, worn-out mattress, simply lying there on the floor.

The room on the left was much darker, leading Nora to peer closely into it in an effort to see any details. Yang, however, was focusing on the lighter room first. "Nora," she whispered, "I think I see-"

"WHOOP!" Nora yelped as she tripped on a loose floorboard, tumbling into the darker room beyond. Yang spun around, but before either could say anything, the door slammed shut behind her.

"NORA!" Yang shouted, first attempting to open the door with the knob, and beginning to pound on it when that didn't work. "NORA, ARE YOU OKAY?!"

"All except for my pride," Nora muttered, steadily rising to her feet, turning to the door to grab the handle. "It- it won't open!"

"I knew you would come back..."

Nora froze, not wanting to look, but knowing she must. "Yang..." she spoke slowly. "I think... I think she's in here..."

As Yang's pounding on the door increased in ferocity, Nora slowly turned to face the room- completely barren except for a blanket-like curtain draped over the window at the far end.

And the feet beneath it, clad in tall, white boots.

The curtain slowly pulled back, revealing a window showing a pitch black night, despite it having been early afternoon when they entered. And in front of the window was exactly what Nora had feared- the woman. Her mouth had been repaired, stitches running up and down the areas that had been sliced open before, but allowing her to grin nonetheless as she gracefully stepped from behind the curtain and moved slowly, steadily, across the room. Draped over her shoulders in one hand was a large parasol, and in the other was a large, pink ice cream cone.

"You're such a good girl, bringing your friend to meet me like this," she seemed to whisper, a dark smirk gracing her features. "Would you like some ice cream?"

Heart hammering harder than ever, Nora recalled what had saved her last time- turning the question around. "W-would _you_ like..."

She hadn't even finished the question before the woman shook her head, laughing a very humorless laugh. "Beep beep, Nora... it was _so_ impolite of you to run away like that before... you don't _really_ want to run away again, do you? From little old Neo?"

Nora pressed her back against the door. "Stay away... stay away!"

She kept drawing closer. "You've been very naughty, Nora... and naughty children should be punished..."

She cast the ice cream cone aside- it seemed to vanish before it landed on the ground. She gripped one end of her parasol, and ripped it away, revealing a long, thin blade beneath.

"NORA!" came a shout from the other side. "S-STAND AWAY FROM THE D-D-D-"

Her stuttering prevented her from finishing the sentence, but Nora understood. Diving out of the way, she called out at the top of her voice, "LET HER HAVE IT!"

*CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!*

Four deafening shots rang out- to Nora's surprise, at least one of them must have made contact with the woman- with _Neo-_ as she seemed to pull back and convulse in that manner.

But it wasn't enough- she was still smirking, and still drawing closer...

Another, softer crack echoed through the room as Yang kicked the door down, allowing light to flood in. Nora immediately leapt to her feet and tore through the exit, as another series of CRACKS echoed behind her, mixed with shouts from Yang. "GIVE ME MY S-SISTER BACK, YOU _B-BITCH!"_

Yang continued firing shot after shot, until at long last, she realized two things- one, the room in front of her was empty.

Two, so was her gun- it had been doing nothing but clicking for a while now.

"Yang..." came Nora's voice, sounding surprisingly soft. "Yang... she's gone..."

Yang turned to see Nora, looking truly petrified. "You're out, Nora... we should get out of here, go back to town... we need to tell someone..."

"T-tell them _wh-what?_ " Yang asked scathingly.

"That there's a maniac hiding out in this house!" Nora answered, panic causing her to raise her voice. "Face it, Yang, this isn't something we can handle on our own!"

"Nobody will b-b-believe us!"

"And if we stay here with nothing but a hammer and an empty gun, we'll both die!" Nora shouted back, tears starting to leak out of her eyes. "Who's gonna help Ruby if _that_ happens, huh?"

Yang took a step back, closing her eyes. When they opened, they'd reverted from a fiery red to her usual crystal blue- she hadn't even noticed the change. "Y-you're right," she practically whispered. "W-we need a b-better plan..."

Moving quickly this time, they descended the stairs they'd just climbed, making their way for the front door-

Only for it to slam shut, too.

"Not again!" Nora cried, immediately rushing it and struggling to open it. "Yang, kick it down!"

"I c-can't!" Yang shouted back. "I only k-kicked the other one d-d-down after sh-shooting off the h-hinges!"

"A bitch, am I?" came a soft voice, and they both spun to see the woman again, gently striding out of another room nearby, smirk back in place. "Such foul language, Yang... calling me a b-b- _bitch..._ "

As she spoke, she moved her head in a very mocking fashion as she came to the stutter, directing a very pointed smirk in Yang's direction. But Yang was not focusing on the taunt- she was focusing on the woman's hair. A black spot had appeared on the top of her head, and as the girls watched, it began to spread, pink and brown overtaken by black, until that was the color of all her hair, except for the tips, which faded to a muted red. As if to drive the point home, the woman blinked- slowly, deliberately- and opened her eyes to reveal that they'd finally united in a single color- a bright silver.

" _Ruby would never call me a bitch!_ " The woman's smirk widened to a grin- a grin that Nora realized with a jolt was revealing a large set of razor-sharp teeth.

"Yang! We need to run!" she yelled, only to see Yang glowering at the woman, fists clenching and unclenching. She was on the verge of charging this woman down- rushing into a fight that Nora had a sinking feeling she would lose. Desperate, she reached into her bag, searching for something- _anything_ \- to help.

Yang was just about to leap when she heard a shout from right next to her. "HEY, FUCKFACE!" Nora cried. "EAT THIS!"

There was an explosion of white powder in front of her, and when it cleared, the woman was covered in the stuff. "Wh-wha-"

"Yeah, how d'ya like _that_?" Nora shouted, appearing at Yang's side once more. "Finest itching powder in Vale! Strong enough to make ya scratch your skin off!"

Yang stared from her friend in pink to the woman, who was suddenly shouting in agony, running her hands all over herself, leaving deep, long gashes in her skin.

"Yang, we have to run!" Nora shouted. "NOW!"

Yang nodded mutely, turning to the door one last time, and finding it surprisingly easy to open this time around. She looked back one last time to find the woman on the ground-

Just in time for her to look up, revealing a set of blood-red, furious irises, the black of her hair suddenly turning bone-white...

"YANG! COME ON, YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN RIDE BUMBLEBEE!"

Yang nodded, turning and dashing across the lawn before leaping onto her bike, throwing a quick glance backwards to ensure that Nora was with her before beginning to pedal.

"C-c-come on, B-Bumblebee- let's-"

The bike wasn't moving fast enough- Nora looked behind to see a black circle forming on the broken-down sidewalk behind them. From it, a pitch-black mass was emerging, eventually revealing itself as robes- surrounding none other than the Salem Witch. Black gashes covered her arms and face, her eyes showed nothing but fury, and her mouth was stretching wide- wider than any human jaw had the right to go- in a terrible scream. Even looking back on the event later on, Nora was unable to recall just how _large_ the figure was- sometimes she thought she'd only been a little taller than the average woman, other times she recalled a vast monstrosity that wouldn't be out of place climbing the side of the Leaning Tower of Atlas. She was too busy being taken aback by the _animosity_ the _thing_ was demonstrating- even the Witch's sole humanizing factor had been stripped away, as even her usually neatly-kept hair had fallen out of its bun and was falling down her back in knotted tangles as she stretched out, reaching out...

"COME ON, BUMBLEBEE, LET'S ROLL!" came Yang's voice, carrying much more power this time, and abruptly, the bike began to _move._ Bumpy as the road was, Bumblebee carried them across it at great speed, and the abruptness of the change caused Nora to turn away from the _creature_ and cling to her pilot to ensure she didn't fall off and get left behind.

Neither was certain exactly how long they rode Bumblebee, or how far, but by the time Yang finally brought her to a stop, the House on Vickery Lane- and the monstrosity that had emerged from it- had both faded into the distance. Slowly, silently, Yang lowered Bumblebee's kickstand and stepped off, leaving a nearly-paralyzed Nora behind as she turned to examine a nearby grassy field.

Nora was shaking- on the verge of sobbing. "Yang... Yang... did you see-?"

"Y-y-y-yeah... I s-s-saw it, N-N-Nora," Yang answered, and Nora turned to see her trembling almost as violently as she was herself. "The w-w-witch... the S-Salem W-Witch..."

"She's not a kidnapper..." Nora removed herself from the bike and attempted to move towards Yang, only to collapse onto the grass. "She's not a _she..._ it... Yang, it's a _monster..._ "

Yang knelt down next to her, and the next thing either of them knew, they were sobbing into each others' shoulders, where they remained for what seemed like several lifetimes.

 _XXXX_

Please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	19. Jaune Arc Cuts His Hair (C)

Gamer4 in, and back from a hiatus! I know you likely don't really care about the reasons, but my editor that we're going to pretend exists tells me I should fill you in anyways. I've been pretty busy lately, finally brute-forcing my way back into the work-force. If that weren't enough, I was having a bit of trouble envisioning the next couple of chapters- that is, I know what I want them to _contain,_ but had a bit of trouble deciding exactly how to go about _presenting_ it, if that makes any sense. But, as my newest muse says, if you keep your pen still too long, you just end up with a puddle of ink- or a fat lot of nothing, in my case. Best to get the keys clicking- let's dive right in.

Disclaimer: We can't just wait with lives at stake until they think we're ready!

Chapter XVIII

Jaune Arc Cuts His Hair

 _Kind, crystal blue eyes_

 _Hide a heart as pure as gold_

 _My heart longs to join_

Jaune Arc blinked as his eyes took in the poem on the back of the postcard he'd just found on his doorstep. He looked up, making a conscious effort to brush his remarkably long hair out of his eyes as he glanced up and down the street outside his home, searching for whoever had left this odd item. He thought he saw some movement in the bushes across the way, but was distracted by a voice behind him.

"And who was that, Jaune?"

Jaune spun around, quickly- instinctively, almost- stuffing the postcard into the back pocket of his jeans. "Oh, nobody," he invented quickly, forcing a smile as he faced his mother, Jane Arc, currently watching him closely with her arms folded in front. "Probably just someone playing a prank."

He was mentally sweating, praying that she'd buy it. The sigh of relief he gave when she seemed to accept his story was equally mental. "You think it was those... those _curdle_ boys you've told me about?"

Now it was time for a mental chuckle- even his mother had begun referring to Team CRDL as 'those curdle boys.' "I doubt it- they're not really the type to ding-dong-ditch."

Jane Arc let out a sigh nonetheless, kneeling down in front of him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I worry about you, Jaune, my boy, I really do. I'd hate to see you get into trouble out there one day."

"I won't," Jaune repeated his usual promise whenever this conversation with his mother came up- which had been increasingly often lately. "Don't worry, Mom- I can take care of myself."

Jane gave a brief nod as she rose to her feet before turning and heading deeper into their tiny house, muttering something under her breath as she moved away.

Some part of Jaune seemed to hear her final words as something along the lines of 'It's not always you I'm worried about.'

XXXX

Later that night, Jaune returned to his room and began searching for a place to store the postcard he'd found. He had no idea who'd written this poem, or even if it had actually been intended for him at all- perhaps whoever had left it had found the wrong house. Nonetheless, just the idea that _someone_ out there thought this highly of him- enough to write such a beautiful poem and leave it on a postcard on his front step- set his heart to hammering.

His room was pretty barren, as rooms went- he only lived with his mother, after all. He was never really certain about the events surrounding the separation of his parents, only hearing occasional whispers about an extensive court battle over his custody in which his mother had eventually emerged triumphant. That had been years ago- nowadays, his father lived in a different kingdom altogether, his visits remarkably limited. As a result, Jaune didn't know his father nearly as well as he knew his mother- a half-remembered face, smiling sadly down at his son, promising that he'd see him again soon. Jaune loved him nonetheless, and often wondered how things might have turned out had he gone to live with his father, rather than his mother.

As things stood, the financial situation of the Arc household in Vale was rather... strained. Jane Arc had never been quite as successful as she had likely once imagined herself, mostly bouncing between various part-time jobs. It was enough to keep them afloat- enough to earn them this small house on Vale's outskirts- but not enough for them to have anything overly extravagant.

All of which went to explain the rather basic nature of Jaune's room- mostly just a small bed, a blanket, a pillow, and a small desk nearby with a framed picture on the stand- a picture of him and his mother. His father had been in the picture as well, until his separation from Jane, upon which the woman had torn his side of the picture away, leaving only the arm he'd placed around his son. Right next to the picture was a digital alarm clock. There was a window looking out upon the street, and right next to it was a poster torn from an _X-Ray and Vav_ comic- one of Jaune's favorites. Aside from that, there was only his dresser and a very basic light fixture to illuminate the chamber.

Jaune glanced around, searching for the best place to conceal the postcard. Well... the choice seemed obvious. The only halfway decent hiding places were either the bed or the dresser. Slowly, he gravitated towards the latter- his mother was in the habit of making his bed for him on a semi-regular basis, rendering it the less reliable of the two hiding spots. He couldn't exactly say why, but the idea of the postcard being discovered sent chills down his spine- not the pleasant chills that he had felt upon the discovery of the haiku on the back, but dark, disturbing chills akin to those he had felt the night after school had ended.

He sifted through the drawers. A few shirts, a few pants, and several pairs of socks and underwear, leaving his favored hoodie to be draped over the top. At long last, he decided to wrap the postcard up in a pair of socks, wrap _those_ up in a pair of underwear, and push the newly-created bundle into a back corner of the dresser drawer. He didn't want to run the slightest risk of his mother discovering that card.

That done, it was time for a quick shower, then, at last, to return to bed. He stepped out of his room and took a couple steps down a the dark, narrow hallway to a dirty bathroom that served as the only one in the building. The mirror was spotted, the floor was an unappealing shade of brown, and the idea of a light fixture had been abandoned altogether, with only a bare bulb providing illumination to this water closet. He threw a glance at himself in the mirror, his eyes not even seeing the spots anymore, instead gazing past them and into the long mane of blond hair that fell down his back.

Truth be told, he hated his long hair- it earned him nothing but mockery in school, it was difficult to maintain, and he generally preferred a more rugged, short-haired look that more closely resembled his father. However, his mother insisted upon this hairstyle in particular- as she often said, "Just because you _are_ a boy doesn't mean you have to _look_ like one."

He had never quite grasped the meaning behind that statement, but he was certain his mother knew best.

Deep down, he sometimes felt like there was another part of him- a voice that often conflicted with his normal day-to-day feelings and emotions. He hated the voice, but seemed incapable of purging it from his mind. In that moment, the voice spoke up- _Screw what she thinks- if you want your hair shorter, go ahead and cut it, why don't you?_

 _I'm sure she has her reasons... why would she ask me to keep it this way otherwise?_

 _Okay, but the next time you run into Cardin and he starts pulling on it, and calling you all those names- don't come crying to me._

Jaune shook his head wearily and climbed into the shower.

XXXX

A few days later, Jaune did end up cutting his hair.

As was usual in the summer, his mother was out, leaving him to abandon the house as well and wander around the town of Vale as he pleased. Eventually, the idea came to him to pass by a local game store and root through the bargain bin to see if there were any interesting titles available. His funds were... limited, to say the least, but he thought he might be able to afford maybe one remarkably cheap title.

He stepped in, the temperature instantly dropping several degrees as he entered the small shop. The only other person there was a clerk behind the counter, currently scrubbing away at the glass display case with a spray bottle and roll of paper towels. "Come on in," the man greeted, giving a small smile as he beckoned Jaune inside. "You looking for anything in particular today?"

"Just browsing," Jaune gave a weak smile back. His mother didn't generally approve of video games, but he thought if he could find a small title for the PC, he might be able to play it on their computer while she was out and leave her none the wiser.

He began picking through the shelves, eyes skimming past the larger price tags and zeroing in on those that didn't exceed double digits in terms of cost. A few good titles did catch his eye, only for him to regretfully turn his back once he noticed that much-reviled price tag.

At long last, he found himself examining a small CD case featuring four girls in school uniforms in various poses, done in a very anime-esque style. The title read _Club of Beating Hearts._ There was no price tag, but from a quick glance, he thought it might not be too far beyond what he could afford.

"Whatcha got there?" the man behind the counter- his name tag identified him as 'Scott'- asked as Jaune approached with the case.

"I was looking at this one," Jaune explained, placing the game on the counter, "but I couldn't find a price tag."

"Oh, that one!" Scott blinked as he glanced at the cover. "Well, that one's an unusual case– the guy who designed that game is a bit eccentric. He wants us to distribute that one for- as he put it- 'any price the customer is willing to pay, from a hundred dollars to twenty to absolutely free.'"

"Free?" Jaune asked, his ears perking up.

"Yup," Scott nodded, chuckling slightly. "We're under orders to just give that game away if the customer so desires- they only have to pay what they think it's worth- though if you pay at least twenty lien, you get a few extras."

"Like what?"

"An extra disc with the soundtrack, some concept art- all that good stuff."

"I don't understand- why-"

"No idea," Scott shrugged. "Like I said, the guy's eccentric- I'm guessing most retailers wouldn't take it at all, but he's got too many other games he produces that he threatened to pull if we didn't do what he asked, so... there you go."

Jaune blinked. "Quite a bit to go through for... what is this, just a dating sim or something?"

Scott gave a chuckle and a knowing grin. "With a bit of a twist. You play the usual featureless protagonist just moving into a new club with a group of cute girls- time to write your way into their hearts!" He paused for a second and continued. "Not suitable for children... or those who are easily disturbed."

Jaune glanced back at the game- _now_ he was _really_ interested. "And it should run on most computers, right?"

"Runs on my piece of garbage," Scott shrugged.

"I'll take it," Jaune smiled. Unable to bear the thought of leaving without paying at _all,_ he reached into his pocket and produced a few lien- though he couldn't spare enough for the bonus content.

"Alright, I'll take care of that," Scott nodded, accepting the payment. "That all for you today?"

"Yeah, thanks," Jaune nodded, offering an awkward half-bow before turning and leaving the shop.

With that, he decided to head right back home- to see if he could give this game a spin before his mother returned. If he was lucky, she wouldn't be home until late, and he might even be able to finish it- in his experience, games such as these were either very long or very short.

He would have to keep the game well-hidden, that much was for certain. His mother didn't like video games in general, and he didn't even want to _think_ about her reaction to a game like this. Then again, he was already taking a risk with the postcard- perhaps it wouldn't be too terrible to keep those things-

*WHACK!*

Jaune staggered to the side, and eventually collapsed on the sidewalk. He looked up to see Cardin Winchester standing over him, nasty smile already in place. "Well, look who came out of his hole, huh?"

Jaune threw rapid glances from side to side, searching for the remainder of Team CRDL- but they weren't there. Today, it was just Cardin. He wasn't sure whether that was better or worse.

"Oh, looking for the rest of my team?" Cardin asked with a solid sneer in his voice. "Yeah, they're all busy today- but don't worry, Jauney boy- that just means I get the faggot all to myself."

Jaune's heart- previously racing- sank when Cardin's indigo eyes fell on something Jaune had dropped- the case containing _Club of Beating Hearts._ "Oh, and what's this?" He stepped over to it and picked it up, examining it closely from various angles. "Well, well, well... I didn't think even _you_ could stoop _this_ low, Arc. I guess I understand a _little-_ it's the only way any girl would look twice at you, that's for sure..."

Abruptly, Jaune felt that other voice well up inside him, momentarily taking control. "Give that back, Cardin."

Cardin turned back to face him, his eyebrows knitting. " _What_ did you just say?"

Jaune's momentary burst of courage faded, the voice abandoning him in his time of need, leaving him to nervously stammer out, "P- _please_ give it back?"

"You know, I don't think I will, Jauney-boy," Cardin smirked. "I think I'll take this and use it for myself, if you know what I-"

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Winchester boy."

Jaune and Cardin both froze, slowly turning to see two individuals standing not far away- a father and a son, by the looks of things, both dressed in what seemed to be traditional eastern garb, colored a pale green.

Cardin's eyes narrowed. "Ren..."

The father drew closer, the son trailing slightly behind. "I'd say I was going to take this up with your father, if I didn't think he'd _support_ this type of behavior." The man was frowning, causing a downturn in the hair above and below his lips. "So for now, we'll just settle for you leaving this boy alone, hmm?"

Cardin didn't look happy about it, but he also didn't seem fool enough to pick a size with a full-grown adult, so he turned and made to leave, grumbling under his breath.

"And return it!" came the voice of the son rose up- everyone turned to see him glaring at Cardin with his arms crossed. "You took something from him- return it." It wasn't a request.

Cardin looked even more furious as he stepped back over to Jaune, dropping the CD case in front of him, from at least chest height all the way to solid concrete. "There you go," he whispered. "A gay little game for a gay little faggot." With that, he turned and stormed off.

Jaune looked up at his saviors, somewhat bewildered as the son dropped his stern look and threw a light smile in his direction as he approached and extended a hand. "Need some help getting back up?"

Jaune gave a weak smile back as he took the boy's hand. He had a surprisingly strong grip, given his rather slender frame. "Thanks," he mumbled, unable to look directly in their eyes. "But... you know he'll be after you now, too..."

"Oh, our families have never gotten along," the son shook his head. "In fact, I'm pretty sure he already hated me more than he does you."

"I hate to speak ill of an entire family," the father shook his head, "but for the Winchesters, I'll make an exception. In their case, I genuinely do believe that the entire tree is rotten from the inside." Shaking his head, he turned to his son. "Well, Lie, I think I can take things from here, if you'd like to hang back a bit..."

"Thank you, father," 'Lie' inclined his head respectfully as his father turned and began to walk away. After a while, he turned towards Jaune. "So, what did _you_ do to get under Team Curdle's skin?"

Jaune gave a weak chuckle. "Oh, you know them- I existed." He knelt down to retrieve his game- the case had been cracked, and some dirt had begun to invade. Nervously, he opened it up and checked the disk itself- but despite the fall- it seemed undamaged. He turned and continued on his way towards home. "I mean, I think the whole 'faggot' thing came from my hair-" he emphasized his point by running a hand through his absurdly long, tangled locks- "but that's just the latest. He's never really liked me."

"Then why not cut it?" the other boy suggested.

"Huh?" Jaune asked, surprised, glancing at the other boy's hair- well-kept in a ponytail, but probably even longer than his, at least by a small margin.

The other boy chuckled. "I realize it probably sounds strange coming from me," he admitted, fingering the aforementioned ponytail, "but for me, it's a matter of honor and family tradition- and, I'll admit, I kind of like the look." He lowered his voice to a whisper for the less formal line, prompting another smile from Jaune. "But for you- the way you talk about it, I don't get the impression you even _like_ having hair that long- so why keep it that way?"

Jaune ran a nervous hand through his hair, wondering how, exactly, to anser this one. "Well... y'see... my Mom likes the look, so..."

"She won't let you cut it?" the boy asked, quirking a brow slightly.

"Well... you have to understand, she's a wonderful woman, it's just that... she works so hard to keep us going, when she asks for something as simple as letting my hair grow out, who am I to say no?"

The other boy narrowed his eyes slightly, but ultimately shrugged. "If you say so."

Jaune bit his lip, casting his mind around for a change of topic. "So... have you ever played this game before?" he asked, presenting the case he'd just recovered from the ground.

"I doubt it," the other boy shrugged. "I don't really have a computer in the house- I always use the library."

"I see..." Jaune nodded. An awkward silence passed between them, before Jaune finally announced, "Oh- this is my house. Gotta go."

"Right. See you around, I guess... er..."

"Oh- Jaune. Jaune Arc," Jaune finally introduced himself, shaking the other boy's extended hand.

"Ren," the other boy followed suit. "Lie Ren."

Jaune stuck around outside long enough to see Ren off, then turned back towards his house, gently opening the door.

He was just taking his shoes off when he heard footsteps in the narrow hall. His heart leaping into his throat, he moved swiftly to hide his new game in the only feasible place available- behind his back.

Sure enough, before he had time to find a better spot, his mother appeared. "Where have you been, Jaune?"

"Oh- you know- out and about," Jaune forced a very painful-looking smile.

His mother's eyes narrowed, as she steadily drew closer. "What's behind your back, son?"

"Oh, nothing- nothing at-"

"Show me."

She wasn't shouting, but her voice carried as much authority as if she had. Jaune closed his eyes tight, bracing for the storm as he brought the game around in its case.

His mother stared at it for a long time, and for a moment, Jaune thought she might explode. Instead, she did something even worse- she continued to speak in a low voice, now filled with cold disappointment.

"Jaune... what _is_ this?"

"It's... it's a game," Jaune admitted heavily.

"And not just any game, it's a..."

"A dating simulator," Jaune cringed.

Slowly, his mother reached out and took the case from him, turning it over in her hands to get a good look at it from every angle. "Jaune... you know who plays these types of games?"

"No." At the moment, all he knew was his desire to be suddenly pulled into a hole in the ground.

"Perverts and deviants," his mother said coldly. She opened the case, removed the disc, and snapped it in half right in front of him. "And you're not one of _those,_ are you?"

"Of course not!" Jaune shook his head rapidly, struggling to fight back tears.

"Of course you're not," his mother agreed, some of the warmth returning to her voice. "You're my little boy." As she spoke, she knelt down and wrapped her arms around him- stroking his hair gently. "My... little... boy..."

Jaune blinked in surprise as she inhaled deeply, seemingly taking in the scent of his hair. He was so shocked by this recent turn of events that he continued to just stand in the hall, staring into nothing, long after his mother had returned to the kitchen to toss away the shattered remains of his game.

XXXX

That night, he stood in front of the bathroom mirror, the events of the day running through his mind on a seemingly permanent loop. Cardin accosting him, that boy- Ren's- speech, and that... that odd incident with his mother...

In his hands were a pair of scissors. His mother was asleep- if he were to do it now, she wouldn't find out until tomorrow, at least, maybe later, depending on her schedule.

 _Do it!_ called out that odd, rebellious voice in his head. _For the first time in your miserable life, do something for yourself- just go ahead and cut it!_

 _No!_ He shook his head fervently, turning away from the mirror. _I can't- Mom wants it to-_

 _Screw what she wants! This is your life- yours! You never do anything for yourself- now's the time to change- DO IT!_

 _What will it accomplish?_

 _It'll show you have_ some _control- enough to make_ this _decision, at least!_

 _I... I suppose it would give Cardin one less thing to pick on us for, at least..._

 _Exactly! So go ahead- just raise up those scissors and do it!_

For a moment longer, Jaune continued to shake his head, emotions rolling around inside him to the point of a few tears sliding down his face.

And then, almost as if from countless miles away, he heard a small _snip._

He looked down to see the scissors in his hand, and a lock of blond hair lying in the sink in front of him.

Once he had begun, it was more difficult to stop- the scissors attacked mercilessly, swiping away one chunk of hair after another, leaving it to pile up in the sink beneath him. He didn't even look up into the mirror to watch it happen- he was too focused in his strikes. While they were minor snipping noises, in his mind, they may as well have been cannon blasts. All the while, that rebellious voice in his head continued to cheer him on.

At long last, he dropped the scissors, looking into the mirror intently. His hair was far shorter now than it ever had been before- though still rather rugged, given the crude nature of his haircut. It was still longer than was normal for boys of his age, but at least he had significantly lessened the chance of being mistaken for female. He looked into the sink- there was no grating to be clogged up by hair, so he turned on the water and watched several years worth of the stuff swirl on down into the depths.

He wasn't entirely sure how to feel anymore, so he simply turned his back on the bathroom, snuck into his bed, and allowed himself to drift off into an equally confused slumber.

XXXX

The next day was the day of the fair. He had expected nothing out of the ordinary to occur that day- he was out and about once more, with his usual small pocketful of lien. At one point, he found himself drawn towards a coffee shop. He didn't normally drink coffee, but after the events of the previous night, he was feeling more than up to broadening his horizons a bit. He entered the shop and ordered an iced coffee. The price was steeper than he'd imagined- he had basically been cleaned out of all his lien- but something about the coffee tasted sweeter than usual as he headed out and began to drink it down under the beating sun.

That, of course, was when Nora Valkyrie had approached him, with all the subtlety of a raging bull. "Hey, Jaune!" she greeted brightly, beaming at him with enough intensity to darken the sun itself.

Jaune had recognized her by sight, but it had taken him an extra moment or two to place her actual name. "Oh- oh, hey, uh... Nora, right?"

"Nora Valkyrie!" the girl had nodded rapidly, seizing the hand that wasn't holding the coffee and shaking it hard enough that Jaune feared his arm might pop out if its socket. "And you're Jaune Arc, right?"

Jaune was bewildered, but somewhat amused by this strange girl, leading to a small smile as he responded. "That's my name. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, the-" He froze, recalling what had happened the _last_ time he'd delivered this spiel in full. He shook his head slightly. "Never mind. So, uh... what brings you here today?"

"Oh, I'm heading to the Fair!" Nora announced brightly. Then, before Jaune could say something to the effect of _Oh, good for you,_ she plowed on- "And you're coming with me!"

Jaune continued with the half-formed sentence in his mind before the rest of her words clicked. "Oh, that's nice- wait, what?"

"Yup!" Nora nodded eagerly, bouncing from one foot to the other. "I've got three free tickets, and I'm already meeting up with one of my friends- that means I've got a ticket left over for you, too!"

Jaune hardly even knew how to respond to this. "You- you want _me_ to- you want _me_ to go to the Fair with you?"

"And my friend!" Nora concurred with a grin. "You might know her- Pyrrha Nikos?"

"We've met once or twice," Jaune nodded, recalling the rather portly girl he'd literally run into on the last day of school.

"She's really cool," Nora smiled. "I call her Mrs. Stay-Puft!"

Jaune blinked, a sudden annoyance coming over him. "That's not nice," he frowned. "I mean, yeah, she's on the big side-" _Putting it lightly,_ he added mentally, "but from what I've seen, she's a great person!"

"Ah, she knows I don't mean anything by it," Nora shrugged him aside. "I only call her that because she brought a _ton_ of marshmallows to our campout the other day." At long last, she stopped for a breath of air- only to start up again immediately. "So... you coming?"

Jaune glanced around, taking another sip from his coffee as memories ran through his mind- memories of how his mother had always reacted in the past to outings with others- other girls in particular. "Well... y'see..."

"You busy today, too?" Nora asked, her grin beginning to fade.

Jaune's heart leapt when he turned to see an expression on the girl's face that, when filtered through his mind, transformed from slight disappointment to outright despair.

 _Hey,_ spoke that voice in his mind, _you already cut your hair last night- that was the first step! How about you keep going?_

He bit his lip, steeling his resolve. "Nah, I've got nothing going on. I've never been to the fairgrounds before, though- mind leading the way?"

XXXX

From there, the day that played out has already been documented. Nora had seized him by the arm and all but dragged him all the way to the fairgrounds out by the boardwalk. They had met up with Pyrrha, with whom Nora seemed intent on matching him. At least, that was the only explanation he could think of for Nora's insistence that they ride together, or- after the fiasco with the tilt-a-whirl- win her prizes from the game booths. Futile- all he'd won her that day was a stuffed zebra that he had immediately offered to let her ditch the second Nora's back was turned.

Things really took a turn, however, when Nora forced them up in the Ferris Wheel together, only to run off and find a different attraction for herself.

A long, uncomfortable silence had passed between them before Pyrrha finally broke it. "So... did you cut your hair?"

Jaune glanced at Pyrrha to find her eyes shut tight. He bit his tongue, unsure of what, exactly, to tell her. "Oh, yeah..." he finally nodded. "I... er... decided it was time for a change of pace, you know?"

Pyrrha finally opened her eyes, but seemed determined not to meet his. "Mmm-hmmm," she muttered. "Mmm-hmmm."

Desperate for a change of topic, Jaune piped up with, "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say Nora was trying to get us together!" He let out a small chuckle to let her know he wasn't serious, only to flag at the exasperated expression Pyrrha fixed him with- a look that she quickly amended.

"Well... Nora tends to get pretty...enthusiastic."

Jaune couldn't hold back a chuckle. "I noticed. How long have you known her?"

"Hmm?" Pyrrha blinked. "Actually- less than a week. I met her the day after school ended- I guess she just... wears her heart on her sleeves."

Jaune nodded, thinking of Nora's nonstop babble since they'd met earlier that day- he already knew more about her than he knew about his own father. "I was getting that feeling, yeah..."

"I guess we're... part of a group, you could say." Jaune looked up to see Pyrrha glancing out the window, a small smile on her face. "I've only known them for a few days now, but it already feels like I've known them my whole life..."

Jaune's heart ached at the idea of having such a group to call his own- more or less at his mother's insistence, he'd hardly had any close friends since he was born. "It must be nice," he mused. "To have people like that in your life."

"Yeah," Pyrrha nodded, smiling back, meeting his eyes for the first time. "They're pretty great."

In that moment, though he could detect nothing solid, a feeling began to rise up in Jaune's chest- a nagging sense that maybe- just maybe- he might have an idea who wrote the poem on the postcard.

XXXX

Eventually, they'd disembarked the wheel only to find Nora running through the fairgrounds, screaming about a woman. Before Jaune could ask for clarification, Team CRDL had appeared, forcing them to first fight, then flee for their lives, leading to a long but oddly exhilarating sprint out of the fairgrounds. Periodically on the run, he'd looked back to ensure that Pyrrha was keeping up- to his pleasant surprise, she showed no signs of weariness until they all collapsed on a grassy hillside.

That was where he'd met Yang, the apparent leader of the group Pyrrha had mentioned. And, to his vast surprise, by the time the day was out, Yang had extended an offer to join them as well.

That was also where he'd finally asked for clarification about the bizarre woman Nora had seen at the fairgrounds, and received the most surprising news yet- that this ragtag band of misfits seemed to have somehow stumbled onto the identity of the town's serial kidnapper- a woman with long, multicolored hair and eyes.

Naturally, his first reaction upon this discovery was to ask, "Have you told anyone?"

Yang had scoffed. "Wh-who d'ya th-think would b-b-believe us? N-no one else h-has s-s-seen her, and we d-don't have any p-p-proof."

Almost pleadingly, Jaune had followed up with, "There has to be _someone-_ " only for Nora, of all people, to interject with a note of sadness in her voice.

"There's no one to tell. Yang's already tried- and if she can't convince _her_ father, nobody can."

Jaune cast his eyes down to the earth, and was thusly surprised at the gentleness in Yang's voice when she spoke next. "Y-you're welcome t-to tell _your_ p-p-parents, if you w-want."

Jaune bit his tongue, realizing his own hypocrisy as he muttered, "I can't. My Dad's out of town... and I know my Mom won't listen."

It was to his even greater surprise when all three girls pulled him into a great big group hug. Yang's voice was softer than ever before as she whispered in his ear, "J-just k-keep on the l-lookout, Vomit B-Boy. I d-don't want to l-lose anyone else."

Jaune had been taken aback, looking up and preparing to ask when he felt a hand on his shoulder- he'd turned to see Pyrrha lightly shaking her head. "Right," he nodded. "Sorry... but I should probably get going now."

"I'll walk you home," Pyrrha spoke up.

Jaune immediately flushed red. "No, no, you don't have to-"

"It's fine!" Pyrrha interjected. "Doctor Oobleck just made us promise not to go out alone anyways, right guys?" Seemingly looking for backup, she'd turned to Yang and Nora.

The smiles they gave were half-hearted, but smiles nonetheless. "That he did," Nora nodded, her grin more of a smirk this time around. "That he did."

Jaune fought back his embarrassment with a smile. "Alright, then. Let's go."

As they had returned into the town, Pyrrha had almost immediately filled him in on the details of Yang's loss. Jaune felt his heart sink as Pyrrha described the disappearance of Yang's sister- he'd never had any siblings of his own, but he'd imagined, sometimes forging a daydream where he came home to seven loving sisters- annoying but endearing in their own ways- and he could only imagine what it would be like to lose an actual, living, breathing sister.

At long last, they separated outside of Pyrrha's house- they'd stopped there first, at Jaune's firm insistence. "I... I really enjoyed today," Pyrrha admitted, looking over at him.

"Me, too," Jaune returned her smile. "I'd love to hang out with you guys again sometime."

"Well... in a couple days, we were talking about getting together down at the arcade," Pyrrha suggested. "I'm sure no one would complain if you were to drop in"

"I... I don't really have any money left," Jaune admitted, scratching the back of his head.

"I'm sure Weiss will be able to spot you," Pyrrha laughed.

Jaune's mouth opened- Weiss? As in, Weiss _Schnee_? - but he abruptly silenced himself, working his face back into neutral expression. "Well... I guess there's no harm in showing up."

"That there isn't," Pyrrha nodded. "See you then?"

"See you then," Jaune smiled one last time before setting off into the sunset, feeling Pyrrha's eyes on his back until he was out of sight.

XXXX

The next day had passed rather normally- his mother had yet to discover his new haircut, fortunately, and she'd left rather early this morning. Looking forward to the next day's trip to the arcade, Jaune decided to remain in his home, determined to find no more temptation to spend what little remained of his lien.

As night began to fall, and his mother returned, he retreated to his room, hoping that she wouldn't call for him- he still wasn't certain how she'd react to his impromptu haircut. Of course, he knew he'd have to reveal what he'd done eventually, but part of him desperately wanted to put it off as long as possible. As such, it wasn't until he heard her turning on their small television that he dared to dart down the hall and into the bathroom, preparing for a shower.

He was crossing the bathroom when he stopped dead, before slowly turning to the mirror- and the sink beneath it. _What was_ that _?_

Slowly, he approached, keeping his ears strained- it _sounded_ like it had come from this direction, but then, he shouldn't be hearing it at all...

There it was again. Nearly silent, but undoubtedly coming from the sink, was a small voice. "Jaune..." it whispered. "Jaune... help us, Jaune..."

Jaune cocked his head, attempting to hear better. "What- what is this?"

"We're all down here, Jaune... all of us. Ruby Rose... Velvet Scarlatina... Coco Adel... so many more... we're all down here..."

"I... I don't understand," Jaune whispered back. "What- I don't understand!"

"The Ice Cream Lady took us, Jaune..." the voice returned, and Jaune steadily began to realize that it wasn't just one voice, but many- somehow, it was as though the voices of all those who had disappeared were coming from his sink's drain. "She promised a new world, full of happiness... joy... and so much more... but once we were here, we couldn't leave! Please, Jaune... save us!"

Jaune bit his tongue. "How? What do I do? How can I help?"

"You can't..." came a new voice- soft, yet somehow menacing at the same time. "They can't be helped, Jauney Boy... besides, they're already happy. We're all happy down here... and when you're down here with us... you'll be, too..."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a series of thick ropes seemed to erupt from the drain, lashing out and wrapping around Jaune's head, pulling it down towards the sink. Instinctively, he seized the sides of the sink with his hands and began struggling to pull away. As he struggled, he realized that it wasn't rope- rather, it was all the hair he'd drained away two nights ago, dyed brown by sludge and twisted together into the thick strands now pulling him, with all their might, towards the drain...

He pushed with all his strength, letting out a scream- he didn't care who came running- his mother, Pyrrha, Yang, he'd even take _Cardin_ at this point- he just knew he didn't want to touch that drain.

Then things got worse. A sick, slopping, bubbling noise began to rise up through the drain- the sound of some thick liquid filling it up faster than it could drain away. Jaune didn't stop to look closely, not given the situation- but he saw a flash of red before it erupted in a fountain- a fountain of dark red, coppery-smelling liquid that doused the room- and himself.

Jaune's scream increased in intensity, but the blood was as much a blessing as a curse- doused in the stuff, his head was suddenly slippery enough to slide out of the hair, sending him reeling into the opposite wall.

He looked up, horrified, as the thick hair-ropes began to snake across the floor- and then, he looked into the mirror and saw her. Pink-and-brown hair, mismatched eyes, and a horrible smirk of what could only be anticipation...

Footsteps were thundering up the stairs. The woman seemed to glance to the side and give a sneer of dissatisfaction before vanishing- if she'd ever been there to begin with. The ropes abruptly retreated back into the drain from whence they'd came, leaving Jaune to stare, open-mouthed and horrified at mirror, the sink, and all the blood that remained behind.

The door swung open. His mother stood, framed in the doorway. "What happened?! What's wrong?!"

Jaune wanted to speak- he truly did- but he could force out nothing but stammers. "The- it- th-the- b-b-b..."

His mother turned to face him, and knelt down. "Jaune, what happened? You scared me half to death!"

"The...the... the blood..."

His mother's eyes narrowed. "Blood? What blood?"

Jaune's heart seemed to stop- what blood? How could she even ask that? She was kneeling in a puddle of the stuff!

But before he could comment, his mother's eyes narrowed. "You cut your hair," she observed. Jaune winced- with everything else, he'd completely forgotten that tidbit. "Why, Jaune? What have I told you already? Just because you _are_ a boy-"

"Doesn't mean I have... to look like one," Jaune finished, reciting more on muscle memory than anything else- only to receive a sharp smack to the face.

"Don't cut me off, Jaune," his mother frowned. "You scare me out of my wits, drag me up here, _you cut your beautiful hair,_ and you can't even tell me what was wrong in the first place?"

Jaune cast his eyes around- somehow, she couldn't see the blood, so he'd have to come up with something else. "I... uh... there was... a bug... a great big bug... it was here, it startled me... then it ran into the sink..."

His mother's face seemed to lighten immediately. "Well, why didn't you say so?" she asked. "No need to make me hit you for answers..."

She stood and made her way to the sink. Jaune's kinder nature was screaming at him to stop her- what if that thing- whatever it was, because it certainly wasn't a normal woman- grabbed her, too?

 _Let it,_ hissed that nasty voice from the other part of his brain. _Why should you care? Just let that thing take her and have its way with her!_

Jaune was struggling to silence this voice when he realized his mother was speaking. "-gone now," she was saying, before turning back to him. "You get a lot of that kind of thing in these old buildings..."

A long silence passed. Finally, his mother sighed. "You've had a scare, Jaune... for now, just take a shower and get into bed. We can talk about your hair later."

With that, she turned and left.

Jaune stayed there, crouched on the ground, for what felt like hours before, moving on what felt like autopilot, he rose to his feet and headed to the shower- protected from the blood fountain by its curtains, leaving him free to scrub himself clean as best he could. He left and made to leave the bathroom without touching any of the deeper puddles, making it to the hallway without dirtying his feet- never before had he been so glad their bathroom was so small. Finally, he entered his room and collapsed into his bed.

Only then did he allow the full weight of the night's events to crash down on him, causing him to sob himself into a rather fitful slumber.

 _XXXX_

Please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	20. Blake Belladonna Visits the Circus (C)

Gamer4 in. You know, it pains me to say it, what with a story like this and the timing with which it was begun, but I don't really have anything special in mind for the upcoming Halloween. I _do_ have a chapter in mind that might fit it, but we're too far away from it for there to be any real chance of it being uploaded on that date. Kinda sucks, but whatcha gonna do? Anyways, might as well dive right in nonetheless.

Disclaimer: Our enemies are gathering, the storm is growing deadly!

Chapter XIX

Blake Belladonna Visits the Circus

Jaune Arc knew, from the moment he awoke the following day, that the previous night's events had all been a dream. Of course they were- there was no other explanation- he was going to get out of bed, go into the bathroom, find nothing, and spend the rest of the day having fun with his new friends.

He peeked his head out of his room. As far as he could tell, the house was silent- indicating his mother had already left for the day. He stepped out, took a couple strides down the hall, coming to the bathroom door, reached out... and hesitated.

He was mentally scoffing at himself. _What do you expect to see?_ he chided himself. _There's not going to be anything in there- just the same old spotty mirror, dirty walls and floors- dirty, not bloody..._

He took a long, deep breath and finally opened the door.

Despite the hours that had passed since the initial blood fountain, it was glistening on the walls, floor and ceiling as though it had just happened. Immediately upon opening the door, the tangy, coppery smell overwhelmed his senses- he practically vomited on the spot, but as it was, he still spent what seemed like an hour or two gagging on the bathroom's threshold.

Finally, he brought himself to a stop. Despite all this, he was now more determined than ever to meet up with his new friends- Team Loser. Desperate for some sense of normalcy- to reassure himself that there _was_ a normal world out there. Maybe he could even tell them about- no, no, that would be a bad idea, they'd think he was crazy.

He thought on this as he got dressed- careful to avoid the underwear and socks containing the postcard. Maybe he _was_ crazy- had he not seen an apparition in his mirror- an apparition bearing an uncanny resemblance to the woman they'd described as the kidnapper? It seemed as likely as anything else that the whole incident was simply a hallucination brought about by his fears, given form by the description they'd offered him.

If that was the case, he thought, double-checking the bathroom one last time before leaving the house, it was an _incredibly_ realistic hallucination.

XXXX

It was a relief to step out of that shady house and into the bright sun outside. He quickly raced out of the dingier parts of Vale he and his mother lived in and started making tracks for the central areas. The air was refreshing after being cooped up in his house all of the previous day, and he found himself breaking into the occasional sprint in his excitement.

At long last, the arcade appeared over the horizon- a glorious building with all the flashing lights and whirring noises one would expect from such a place. And standing right out front, seemingly scanning around for an errant head of blond hair, was Pyrrha Nikos. She visibly brightened when she spied him coming over the horizon. "Jaune!" she greeted him. "Glad to see you could make it!"

"You haven't been waiting out here for me the whole time, have you?" Jaune asked nervously- he'd hate to think she was depriving herself of fun on his account.

"No- I just stepped out, and thought I'd see if-" She stopped herself mid-sentence, momentarily shaking her head from side to side. "It doesn't matter. I was just getting pasted at skee ball anyways..."

"Nora?" he guessed- while the pink girl had insisted on Jaune playing all the fair games the other day, the level of enthusiasm she'd expressed for them led him to think she might be rather good at them.

"No," Pyrrha shook her head as she took the lead into the building, guiding him towards the skee ball machines at the back. "Actually, Yang and Nora haven't shown up yet. Believe it or not, it's _Weiss._ "

Jaune blinked as, sure enough, they happened upon the others just as Weiss was tossing a ball between her hands. After a couple experimental tosses, she held it tight in her left hand, wound up, and tossed it onto the ramp, where it rolled swiftly along, flying into the air, landing perfectly in the highest-scoring hole. At one side was Blake Belladonna, seemingly not paying attention at all- she was flicking through a book with a thick dust jacket. Paying much more attention- with a slight grimace on her face- was that girl from the other day, Ilia Amitola.

"You're not playing?" Weiss asked, turning to glance at Blake. "We have enough for you to take a roll or two."

"I'll just keep refereeing," Blake replied in an almost perfect monotone, not taking her eyes off her book.

Weiss shrugged in a 'suit-yourself' kind of way before turning to see Jaune and Pyrrha approaching. "Ah- you must be Jaune Arc. Pyrrha told us all about you. Pleasure."

She curtly extended her hand, and Jaune shook it nervously. "So... any idea when Yang and Nora will turn up?" he asked- it was somewhat awkward only knowing one of the people here.

"No telling," Blake piped up. "I haven't seen those two in a while."

"I haven't seen them since we split up after the fair," Pyrrha agreed, biting her lip slightly. "I hope they're okay..."

A dark mood seemed to descend on them for a moment, before Jaune spoke up. "Well... those two can take care of themselves- I'm sure they're just fine. Let's just wait a little longer, huh?"

"Sounds good to me," the other girl, Ilia, nodded. "I'm not keen on playing more skee ball with the Schnee." This was punctuated by a glare in Weiss's direction. Weiss bit her lip and looked away. Jaune raised his eyebrows at Pyrrha, who simply shrugged. Ilia led the way away from the skee ball machines, leaving Jaune to turn to Blake.

"Does she... have a problem?"

"She may not look like it," Blake muttered under her breath, watching as Weiss and Pyrrha followed Ilia, "but she's a faunus too- a chameleon."

"A faunus _too?_ " Jaune asked, blinking.

Blake sighed, glancing from side to side before removing her bow. "Take a quick look- the bow goes back on and _stays_ on."

All said, Jaune had about three seconds to view Blake's purplish cat ears before she quickly retied the bow. "Anyways, there's some bad blood between us and the Schnees. Weiss has gotten over it... Ilia, not so much."

"I see." Jaune threw a nervous glance over his shoulder at the rest of their group. "I see..."

XXXX

Unfortunately, the barb at Weiss's expense set the tone for the remainder of that visit. As they went around playing all the other games, Ilia only seemed to get more and more agitated as she consistently came out behind the others- primarily Weiss and Pyrrha. Blake continued to stick to her book, only looking up to throw out the occasional comment, while Jaune continued to trail behind them all- seemingly Ilia's only consolation.

The last straw, however, was when they began competing on the pinball machine- the game where Jaune finally came out ahead, scoring higher than Ilia, Pyrrha, and Weiss combined. Weiss, almost predictably at this point, had come in second, Pyrrha not far behind her, and in dead last... a very unhappy Ilia.

"Alright, Schnee, spill it," she finally burst. "You and your family have rigged this arcade somehow."

"I've done nothing of the sort!" Weiss objected. "I can hardly claim to be perfect if I have to resort to such underhanded tactics- not that my father would allow it even if I wanted to!"

"Bullshit!" Ilia snapped back. "I _know_ you're cheating- you and him!" With this, she turned on Jaune, who jumped, looking remarkably uncomfortable being dragged into this heated argument.

"Ilia," Blake said warningly, lowering her book at last.

"Of course the man would want to force himself into this group, just to start dominating us all!"

"I... er... uh..." Jaune babbled a bit, uncertain how to react.

"He's lost every game up until now..." Weiss pointed out quietly.

But the harshest one was Pyrrha, who stepped between Jaune and Ilia, a sudden look of ferocity on her face that none had ever seen there before. "You take that back." Everyone blinked in surprise- coming from a girl who was usually so polite, that was no request- it was an _order._

"What's wrong with you?" Ilia narrowed her eyes. "He's just using you to stroke his own-"

"Jaune is _not_ like that," Pyrrha shot back. "You can either take that back or get out of here- just don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out."

Pyrrha pointed behind her, where the door of the arcade stood. Despite her weight, she was still the tallest person present, easy, giving her quite the advantage in terms of intimidation.

Ilia glanced over to Blake, who was wearing- not necessarily a _scathing_ look- but definitely not a supportive one either. She huffed. "Even Blake's been taken in by you freaks..." she grumbled before making her way out of the doors.

A long silence fell. "Sorry about her," Blake finally spoke up. "She's not usually like that- I guess today is just a bad day for her."

Pyrrha, on the other hand, widened her eyes, slapping her hands over her mouth. "Did... did I just say that?" she wondered out loud, turning to Weiss as if for confirmation.

Weiss's eyes were pretty wide themselves- she hadn't had as much interaction with Pyrrha as some of the others, but she'd had enough to know that little outburst was definitely unusual. "Yes... yes, I believe you did."

"Sorry about that, guys," Jaune looked down, rubbing the back of his head. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble..."

Pyrrha's eyes abruptly hardened again. "It wasn't _your_ fault, Jaune. It was all her."

"I... I just wanted to go out and do something normal after last night..."

The words were out before he could stop them. "Why?" Pyrrha asked. "What happened last night?"

Jaune tensed up. "Oh... just... stuff."

"What kind of 'stuff?'" Weiss asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Maybe we can help."

"It's... uh... nothing you can help with," Jaune shook his head, looking pointedly away. "Look... why don't we just find another game..."

Pyrrha spoke up, a cold dread suddenly taking hold in her heart. "Jaune... did you see the woman?"

It was as if a cloud had passed in front of the sun, darkening the room perceptibly- despite there being little natural light there to begin with. Blake dropped her book, and abruptly, her bow contorted, signifying the flattening of her feline ears. Weiss gave fewer outward expressions, but her skin had noticeably whitened even more than usual, and her hands had clenched into tight fists.

"Yes... no... not exactly... kind of?" Jaune spluttered.

"What do you mean, 'kind of?'" Weiss interrupted. "Did you see her or didn't you?"

"I... I saw her reflection... but she wasn't in the actual room..." Jaune kept his eyes fixed on the ground, unable to face them as he delivered such a ridiculous story.

Blake's eyes were narrowed, and Weiss was biting her lip. Finally, Pyrrha placed a hand on his shoulder. "Jaune... we... we don't necessarily think this is as crazy as you think... please, tell us the whole story."

"It's... it's not possible..."

"Try us," Weiss spoke up, looking very much as though she was bracing herself. "We might surprise you."

Jaune took a deep breath, and began to explain the story- starting with the voices in the sink. Weiss and Blake visibly tensed at the mention of Ruby's name. Next came the hair from the sink, and while he neglected to tell them exactly _why_ he'd cut his hair- a question he was still working out for himself- he did make it clear how certain he was that it was his hair the ropes had been twisted from. His audience's eyes widened as he described his struggle to keep away from the drain, until the blood's eruption. At long last, the image of the woman in the mirror, only to vanish when his mother had entered the room.

When he finally finished his story, it left a ringing silence behind, despite all the buzzing noise around them.

"Jaune..." Pyrrha finally broke the silence. "Are... are you sure you're okay, after all that?"

"I'm still not certain it was real," Jaune admitted. "I saw it, but part of me still thinks I must be crazy... part of me _hopes_ I'm crazy..."

"What state is your bathroom in?" Weiss asked.

"I... I checked it before I left this morning... the blood was still there, but... I don't know... maybe I'm still hallucinating somehow..."

"One way to find out," came Blake's voice, and they turned to see her rising from her seat in a nearby game, snapping her book shut and tucking it away under one arm. "Let's go check it ourselves. If you're crazy, we won't be able to see it."

"You... you want to come to _my_ house?" Jaune asked nervously.

"If it's alright with you, of course!" Pyrrha interjected immediately.

"No, no, it's fine by _me,_ it's just that..." He didn't want to think what would happen if his mother came home early to find three girls with him in the bathroom. "It's just... let's be quick about it, okay?"

"Why, is there something else?" Weiss asked, somewhat urgently.

"Not exactly... just... my Mom..."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "I see," she nodded. "I wouldn't want my father to find out if it were me- but don't worry. We'll be in and out before you know it."

Jaune gave a nervous nod before leading them out of the arcade and back along the way he'd come that morning- all the way to his house at the edge of town.

XXXX

"So, this is your house, hmm?" Weiss asked as they approached it.

"I... I know it's not much," Jaune muttered, his cheeks reddening slightly.

"Be nice, Weiss," Blake lightly tapped the girl in white on the head with her hardcover. For a moment, she paused.

"Is something wrong, Blake?" Pyrrha asked nervously- given what they were here to do, she thought she had every right to be.

"No, it's nothing, it's just... that's usually where Yang or Nora would jump in and make a joke out of it..."

They looked around- indeed, they could hardly _not_ notice the absence of the group's ringleaders- there was an emptiness there standing hand-in-hand with Yang and Nora's absence.

"Maybe we'll... we'll stop by their houses after this," Jaune suggested nervously. "You guys know where they live, right?"

"Where _Yang_ lives," Weiss agreed. "I don't think we've ever really gone over to Nora's... but Yang will know, and if they're together, it will be at Yang's."

Finally, Jaune stepped forward and opened the door for them, revealing the rather ramshackle hallways behind.

The four kept close together as they ascended a floor, and eventually came to the bathroom that Jaune had sealed shut again after his morning excursion. Trembling far more violently than he had earlier, Jaune pushed the door open. He kept his eyes open long enough to see the blood still glistening on every surface, then slammed them shut- he didn't know what he'd do if the others couldn't see it.

However, as soon as the door opened, a collective gasp rose up from the girls.

"My God..."

"Oh my Dust..."

"You see it?" he asked, almost desperately.

"How could we _not_?" Blake asked. She covered her nose. "It smells..."

"It smells for _me,_ " Weiss agreed, recoiling slightly from the deluge of blood. "I can't _imagine_ how it must smell for _you..._ "

As Blake and Weiss pulled away, Pyrrha stepped in, running a finger along a wall, leaving a trail in the liquid and examining it closely. "I wonder where it comes from..."

"Who cares where it _came_ from?" Weiss spoke up. "What are we going to do about it?!"

Blake was biting her lip. "Well... we can hardly leave it here..."

"Right!" Pyrrha nodded, turning to Jaune. "How about we help you clean this up?"

"I... I guess I have some cleaning stuff in the closet..."

"Do we have to?" Weiss asked, looking nervously at the room's insides. "Do you realize how many diseases blood can carry?"

"You can only catch them if it mixes with your own blood," Blake interjected. "Just don't drink it, and you'll be fine."

"Right," Pyrrha nodded again, clapping her hands together. "Jaune... show me to your closet. We'll get this cleaned up today."

XXXX

Over the next hour or so, the four of them did, indeed, clean up the bathroom- doing an effective enough job that it was actually cleaner than before the blood fountain. With mop, rags, and various cleaning fluids in hand, they wiped the mirror until it shone, mopped the floor until it was practically a mirror itself, and cleaned the walls until Jaune finally remembered, after so many years, what the pattern on it was actually intended to be. Whenever their buckets became too bloody to be feasible for cleaning anymore, they dumped them into the tub, allowing the nightmare of the previous night to go down the drain.

At one point, Jaune finally felt compelled to ask the question that had been nagging at his mind for a while now. "So... you guys... has something similar happened to you?"

"Hm?" Weiss asked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Pyrrha, Yang and Nora already told me about the woman- but they didn't tell me anything crazy like this. I was wondering- did you not _see_ anything crazy, or..."

"We didn't think you'd believe us," Pyrrha agreed with his unspoken sentiment. "Would you have?"

Jaune could hardly speak against her- he'd been doubting his own senses not two hours ago. "So you _did_ see something unusual?"

"A weeping angel," Pyrrha nodded, shuddering at the memory.

"A dying faunus," Weiss recalled, biting her lip.

Finally, they all turned to Blake, busy soaking the shower curtains in a filled tub. She finally noticed their gaze on her, and turned to meet it. "Yes?" she asked.

"Blake... at the campout, didn't you say _you_ saw something, too?" Pyrrha recalled.

"Did I?" Blake asked, suddenly looking very uncomfortable.

"Yes you did," Weiss agreed, fixing her with an unflinching stare. "If I recall, you were just about to tell us when Oobleck showed up."

Blake bit her lip, and went back to thoroughly wiping down the plastic curtains. "I'm not sure _what_ I saw..."

"Neither were any of us," Jaune threw his hat into the ring. "Whatever happened, I'm sure it's no crazier than anything any of _us_ have seen."

"In a way, it's not..." Blake agreed, before pointedly looking away. "But in others..."

Jaune and Pyrrha watched as Weiss crossed the room and sat on the toilet right next to Blake. "Blake... please tell us. After everything we've seen... everything we've been through... do you really think we'd just laugh you off?"

Blake cast her eyes down. "No... no... it's just..."

She heaved a great sigh. "It... it was mid-September- not long after Ruby... not long after..."

Weiss patted her on the back, and she heaved a sigh. "It... it was right after that argument you and I had, Weiss... you remember the one."

Weiss flinched slightly, but did not pull away. Words were echoing through the months back to their minds.

"Of course faunus aren't evil- they're just as individual as humans- but an organization like the White Fang that uses violence to get its way-"

"They're just misguided!"

"They're willing to kill people!"

"They're _very_ misguided, then!"

"Look, Blake, I get why you'd want to support a group fighting for faunus rights, but the White Fang? They're pure evil!"

"There is no such _thing_ as pure evil!"

Neither could recall how the fight had started, but by the end, they'd been hurling every insult they could think of at each other, intent only on hurting the other. Yang and Nora had failed to intervene- they were too taken aback at the usually more stoic girls getting so fired up. Never before had there been such a fight within the ranks of Team Loser- nor would there ever be since. It had culminated with Blake storming off away from their spot at the banks of the Haven River, making her way back towards the main township. Weiss had bit her tongue at whatever she'd said last- she could no longer recall- and made as if to run after her, but Yang had finally intervened.

"L-let her g-g-go, Weiss... she n-needs to b-be on her own for a b-b-bit."

Jaune and Pyrrha stared at the exchange occurring before them- almost entirely without words. "I... I remember," Weiss nodded. "We never _did_ get you to tell us where you went afterwards..."

"Until now," Blake agreed. "I went..." She stopped, sighed, and continued. "I went to the abandoned fairgrounds."

Jaune and Weiss's eyes both widened, but Pyrrha looked confused. "I don't understand... we were just _at_ the fairgrounds-"

"The fairgrounds by the boardwalk," Blake interjected. "Those are where we always set up now... but a long time ago, there were other fairgrounds that this town used to use... almost a hundred years ago, now... but after... something happened... they've never been used again."

"My Mom's told me about it," Jaune put in. "The circus came through town one time... they set up in the old fairgrounds... and it seemed like a fun time for everyone... everyone loved it... but then people started disappearing, only to turn up dead, if they turned up at _all..._ eventually, the police realized the circus was behind it, and they all got run out of town, except for the ringmaster... he was struck by lightning, and killed..."

Blake had been biting her lip slightly already, and began biting harder and harder as Jaune's story progressed. By the time it was through, she was drawing blood. "Stop... please, stop..."

"Sorry!" Jaune quickly stopped talking, raising his hands. "I- I didn't mean..."

"Why would you go _there,_ Blake?!" Weiss broke in. "Especially with a kidnapper on the loose!"

"Like I said, it was in the early days..." Blake shook her head slightly. "Ruby was the only disappearance, and I guess it hadn't really set in yet that she was really gone... I always used to go there when I needed some time alone to think, so... I suppose it just seemed natural to go there to cool off after... after. I know the reputation the place had... but I guess I just didn't care as much then... I just wanted to be alone for a while... then...

XXXX

The sky was grey as Blake made her way through the ruins of the old circus. The tents were torn and ravaged by almost a hundred years of neglect beneath the elements. Even the old gates had fallen apart, allowing her easy access whenever she needed to cool down for any reason. Under one arm was her favorite book, _Ninjas of Love,_ which she planned to read if she found anywhere to seat herself.

Everything in the area felt dead- despite Mother Nature having spent the past eighty or ninety years reasserting herself over the grounds, it felt like a place where nothing could grow, aided by the dead appearance of most of the trees- entirely barren of leaves.

Unwilling to trust the old benches and tables to still support her weight after so long, Blake did as she usually did- curling up beneath one of the trees on the outskirts of the tents and flipping open her book. She had hardly begun reading when she heard a voice, as if from a distance.

"Blake..."

She looked up immediately- she had never encountered anyone else in these grounds before, let alone anyone who knew her name. "...Hello?" she wondered out loud.

"Blake... over here, Blake..."

Blake found her eyes drawn towards the tents where, just at the edge of even her enhanced faunus vision, she spied a humanoid figure. Tensing, ready to turn and run at the drop of a hat, she began to draw closer.

Every step she took brought the figure into sharper relief. It wasn't long before she could make out all the fine features- the pink-and-brown hair, the multicolored eyes, the jacket, shirt, and boots... the parasol and the dark-colored ice cream cone.

"Come closer, Blake... I have ice cream..."

Blake did not lower her guard. "Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm a friend..." the woman whispered, yet still coming across as loud and clear as if they were right next to each other. "Someone who would _never_ call you _evil..._ I want to help you, Blake. I want to take you to another place... a place where humans and faunus live together in harmony... we're all happier there... join us, and you'll be, too!"

Blake began stepping backwards as the woman began moving forwards. "Stay away from me!" she yelled. Something about this woman was _wrong._ She couldn't put her finger on it, but every part of her- her faunus instincts in particular- were _screaming_ at her to turn and run.

"Where will you run _too,_ Blake?" the woman asked, a strange amusement alight in her eyes. "Without Neo, who do you have? Weiss, who hurls nothing but abuse at you and your kind? Yang and Nora, who stand by and let it happen? It's such a cold world, Blake... you'd be so much happier with me..."

"Stay away!" Blake repeated, continuing to back away herself, but unwilling to break eye contact.

"I see... you like it that way, don't you?" the woman asked, tilting her head with a slight grin. "Well, I'm not such a nice person, myself... you know what they say... homo... homini... lupus..."

The woman was changing. She was bending forward, her arms growing longer, her back legs seemingly reversing themselves. Her clothing was tearing away, fur was growing all over her body, and her eyes were turning more feral than any faunus's ever had.

Before long, the woman had been entirely replaced with an enormous snarling hound, foaming at the mouth, with bloodshot eyes and filthy, matted fur.

Blake's instincts won out, prompting her to turn and sprint away, the rapid pawsteps behind assuring her the _creature_ was still on her heels. The world around her blurred as she dashed through the tents and trees, making her way to the fence. Unfortunately, she couldn't climb it- even her faunus nature was of no help with a fence like this one. She'd have to find somewhere where it had broken away- still moving mostly on instinct, she turned left and continued her sprint, the snarling of the dog close behind.

At long last, a gate appeared- she'd never been so happy to see it. She made to push it open- but despite its age and the abuses of time, it held steady. "No!" she screamed, pushing against it as hard as she could. "No! Open!"

The growling sounded off again behind her. She slowly turned to find the dog drawing closer and closer, a sick grin on its rabid-looking jowels as it drew closer. She clutched tighter onto the book in her hands, thoughts of its characters serving as her only comfort as death drew closer. As she braced herself for the end, she found herself muttering one of their names.

"Yu Narukami."

A ringing silence fell. Blake opened her eyes a crack, and saw the dog in front of her stop moving, tilting its head, almost as if in confusion- a confusion reflected in Blake's mind.

"Y...Yu Narukami!"

The dog took a step backwards. Blake cast her mind back towards the book. "Akira Kurusu! Yosuke Hanamura! Yukiko Amagi! Makoto Nijima!"

The dog was growling again, but in a more annoyed manner this time, and was starting to back away. Blake continued her onslaught, calling out names from all the books she'd ever read, holding _Ninjas of Love_ in front of her like a shield, pressing her back against the gate. "Oboro-Maru! Li Kuugo! Yuki Nagato! Roland Deschain! Citan Uzuk-aah!"

This cry was courtesy of the gate giving way at last, sending her sprawling backwards onto the ground. She immediately leapt to her feet to see the dog still glaring at her from the other side. Clutching her book tightly, she turned and continued her run- this time, she didn't hear the sound of paws following behind.

XXXX

"I ran all the way home- I never looked back," Blake recalled. "I spent the rest of the year trying to forget it... but then more people started disappearing, and you started telling your stories around the campfire, and now this..."

At long last, the bathroom was spotless- sparkling clean in a way it had not been in years. If only those within it felt the same.

It was Weiss that finally broke the silence. "We have to tell Yang and Nora."

"Why?" Blake asked, nerves clearly written into her face, her voice sounding as though she were on the verge of tears. "Why do _we_ have to do _anything_ about this? This thing almost killed us all already-"

"And it's already been kidnapping all these other kids!" Weiss countered. "Velvet- Coco- Blake, this thing took _Ruby!_ "

Blake froze, as though something was caught in her throat. She didn't know how to communicate just how she felt at the moment- of _course_ she hated that Ruby had been taken- she had loved the girl like her own sister! But it wasn't just fear of death that made her so desperate to avoid this creature- the fact of the matter was, this creature was _wrong._ She had done a lot of reading in the past, of far off lands and impossible events, but she had been able to stomach even the most horrifying through the understanding that it was all just a story- if anything got too terrible, all she need do was close the book. There was something else at play here- the creature she'd encountered on the old fairgrounds had almost certainly been life-threatening, yes, but far above that, it was threatening to reality as she knew it- it was a sign of so much more, so much that she didn't know how to accept or cope with.

Jaune spoke up, speaking slowly, and with fear etched into every word. "I... I think we should tell them, too."

"Thank you, Jaune!" Weiss nodded, crossing her arms as she turned to him.

Jaune nodded. "I think... I think, if nothing else, it'll be nice for us to all know that there are others who are in on all this- power in numbers, and all that... and... yeah..." His voice trailed off as he realized how little he actually had to say on the subject.

Pyrrha took up the slack. "I agree, Jaune- whether we can do anything about it or not, it's best for everyone who knows to be together." She moved towards Blake, and lightly touched her shoulder. "So... how about we go to Yang and Nora, tell them everything that's going on... and then we can all decide what to do together. You know, like a team?"

Blake looked up, giving a weak nod and a weaker smile. "Right... a team." The smile disappeared. "Alright... we'll tell Yang and Nora. Past that, I can't promise anything- I just want to stay the hell _away_ from this thing."

"So it's decided then," Weiss nodded, looking around. "Come on- let's get going to Yang's house, Ms. Nikos."

Pyrrha blinked in surprise. Ms. Nikos? Where had _that_ come from?

"Ms. Nikos?" Jaune asked, bizarrely enough, using the same voice that Weiss had just been speaking in.

Pyrrha looked around in confusion as the light in the room began to fade. "Ms. Nikos?" Blake took up the line, and the three of them began repeating it as the darkness grew thicker and thicker.

"Ms. Nikos? Ms. Nikos?"

XXXX

"Ms. Nikos? I'm sorry to wake you up, but we'll be landing soon."

Pyrrha's eyes flew open, immediately taking in the brightly lit plane cabin surrounding her. One of the flight attendants was standing in front of her, looking somewhat concerned. She nodded slightly. "Thanks for telling me."

"You should fasten your seatbelt, Ms. Nikos."

Pyrrha glanced down, and saw that, sure enough, her belt was unfastened. Now she remembered. She'd gotten up to use the bathroom, and forgotten to buckle up again when she sat down before slipping into slumber.

"Of course," she nodded, reaching down and buckling up.

"Was something wrong?" the stewardess asked. "You didn't seem to be sleeping well..."

"Ah, just some... odd dreams," Pyrrha explained briefly, forcing a smile. "Don't worry about it."

"Very well." The stewardess bowed before heading further back in the plane, leaving Pyrrha to gaze out of the window. Far below, she could see the lights of the airport she'd soon be landing in. Far beyond that- several miles away, though much closer from this height- she could see the lights of central Vale.

For the first time in almost thirty years, she was coming home.

 _XXXX_

Hope the ending wasn't too abrupt for you. Before I sign out, I'd like to thank long-time reader and reviewer Spidershadow5 for the idea of Neo's form when confronting Blake- I had basically everything in mind except the actual form she'd take, and his input gave me the nudge I needed to actually get this chapter out in a timely manner. Thanks very much for the reviews, and on that note, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out!


	21. James Ironwood Seeks Assistance (A)

Gamer4 in, and happy Halloween! We've got a trick and a treat coming at fans of this story this year- no, this isn't the chapter I was talking about that would actually be good for Halloween- that chapter's still far off- but I hope what it is will make up for it. I was going to have a trick chapter up today, as well, but as the day approached, it became very clear it wouldn't be finished in time- I'll be sure to let you know when it's actually ready. As far as this chapter goes, we have another side chapter coming up- might be a bit shorter than normal. Hope you don't mind- in fact, I'd go as far as to say I hope you enjoy! Let's dive in.

Disclaimer: Now it's time to say goodbye to the things we love, and the innocence of youth! How the time seems to fly from our carefree lives, and the solitude and peace we always knew!

Chapter XX

James Ironwood Seeks Assistance

Just as Pyrrha Nikos was being shaken awake by a stewardess, far below, Lie Ren was also being awoken from his dreams of the past- by a rapid-fire knock at his door.

The moment the first knock connected, he sat bolt upright, already reaching for the pistol he kept next to his bedside. By the time he had it lifted up, he was fully awake, scanning his room for any sign of brown or pink hair. He saw neither.

The knock sounded again. _Someone at the door,_ spoke a voice in his head. He gave a small nod before steadily rising to his feet and heading to his bathroom, where he supplemented his pajamas with a bathrobe before descending the short flight of steps to his front door, pistol still clenched tightly in his hand.

Just in case.

He looked through the peephole and saw a tall, burly man with black hair fading to gray along the edges. Blinking, he tucked the pistol away into his pocket before opening the door. "And whom do I have the honor of addressing tonight?" he asked, maintaining a polite posture and tone of voice despite his confusion.

"James Ironwood," the man wasted no time in introducing himself. "And you're Lie Ren, correct?"

"That I am," Ren nodded. He glanced around. "I suppose you can come in, if you want..."

"I would appreciate that," Ironwood nodded, stepping over the threshold into Ren's immaculately kept house. His host proceeded to guide him to the living room, outfitted with several cabinets, a sofa, and a reclining chair, laid out over a tan carpet. Ren sat down in the former, while Ironwood assumed the latter.

"Would you like some tea?" Ren offered, fixing his guest with his unflinching gaze.

"No, thank you," Ironwood declined. "I'm here on important business. Do you know who I am?"

"I've heard of you," Ren answered honestly. "General James Ironwood, of Atlas, correct? One of the top leaders in their military's history?"

"Correct- though I'm not a general anymore," Ironwood concurred. "I thought you'd have some idea, seeing how easily you allowed me in."

Ren gave a light smile. "I'm used to people knocking on my door late at night. Comes with the line of work- once people hear about it, they start asking for help with any number of problems. Just the other day, a young man came to me asking about a missing bath-drain. As it turned out, his cat stole it."

His effort at joviality was met only with a stern quirk of his guest's brow. "Well, if nothing else, I know I'm in the right place."

Ren leaned forward slightly. "So... someone told you about me?"

"One of the police officers- a Mr. Carter Blake. You know him?"

"All too well," Ren nodded. "So... you have an issue he's too busy to handle right now, correct?"

"Correct," Ironwood scowled. "The police force out here is one of the least efficient I've ever seen- no offense intended, of course."

"None taken- I happen to fully agree." Ren closed his eyes lightly, then opened them again. "So... what brings a man like you to a town like this?"

"I was supposed to be on vacation," Ironwood answered immediately, speaking as though these words had been prepared in advance. "I'm retired, as I'm sure you know, and while I'm still compensated well for my time in Atlas's Armed Forces, I do still find myself seeking a change of scenery every now and again. So, not that long ago, I picked up my daughter and brought her here- a small, quiet, out-of-the-way town with ready access to a beach."

"Your daughter?" Ren asked, brow quirking again- this time in interest.

"Penny Polendina," Ironwood elaborated. "Adopted," he answered preemptively in response to Ren's questioning look. "Her mother died in childbirth, her father delivered her to an orphanage shortly before taking his own life. That's where I found her."

"I'm sorry to hear it," Ren offered his condolences. "How do you get along?"

Ironwood bit his lip for a moment before continuing. "They... they were reluctant to allow me to adopt her, at first- due to my age. Then they actually met me, and... changed their opinions."

Ren narrowed his eyes- he could see what Ironwood meant. From his limited knowledge about the man, he had to be pushing his eighties, but that gray hair aside, anyone looking at him could mistake him for his mid-forties.

"I... I like to think I've been fair to her, and she seems to care for me," Ironwood continued. "She's quite the cheerful girl, for all that's happened to her- if you were to pass her on the street, you'd never know. What I've told you, I only learned from the orphanage." Ironwood leaned back in his chair, starting to look less comfortable. "And... she's the reason I'm here tonight."

Ren closed his eyes, a horrible feeling rising in his stomach. Almost in resignation, he started to ask. "Don't tell me... she's..."

"Gone missing, yes," Ironwood confirmed. "She disappeared a couple nights ago."

Ren's heart sank. "You're certain she's not hiding out somewhere?"

Ironwood shook his head fervently. "She's not that type. She knew very well to stay away from strangers, and I told her not to leave my side in a strange town."

"The police?"

"They said what you said- and beyond that, they can't be searching for one missing girl when they have so much else going on." Ironwood's tone became bitter as he recalled Carter Blake's words. "Something about being too busy with prison arrangements for one inmate, and asylum arrangements for another."

Ren sighed. "True, they are just wrapping up a case... nonetheless..."

"I know," Ironwood agreed. "Instead, they gave me your address, said you might have more free time. What was it?" He thought back. "'He may come up with crazy conspiracy theories about cannibal midgets from time to time, but at the end of the day, he's the best police officer in this town to not be on the force.'" He turned his gaze back to Ren. "Cannibal midgets?"

Ren sighed. "The testimony from another case," he brushed aside. "I lent it a bit more credence than he may have liked."

Ironwood leaned forward, a dead serious look on his face. "Well, I don't care if it was a cannibal midget, a beringel, or the Dust-damned Lake Vytal Monster. I want my daughter found, Mr. Ren."

Ren nodded. "I understand, Mr. Ironwood." He paused, thinking carefully about how to handle this situation. "Unfortunately... there's nothing I can do right at this moment, _but-_ " he raised his voice slightly upon seeing outrage brewing behind Ironwood's eyes- "I _do_ have friends arriving very shortly that I believe will be of great assistance in this investigation. When they get here, I swear to devote myself to it wholeheartedly."

Ironwood examined him closely. "You... you think you know what happened, don't you?"

"I... have my suspicions," Ren nodded, weighing every word.

"Then by all means, fill me in on the secret!" Ironwood ordered.

Ren paused again. The pause was long enough for Ironwood to scoff. "Your cannibal midgets, Mr. Ren?"

"Something like that," Ren conceded. "Your daughter isn't the first person to disappear in Vale, Mr. Ironwood- not even recently. Over the past few months, people have been disappearing disturbingly often- though the police seem ill-equipped to handle it. It is possible that your daughter is the latest in a series of victims. That is why my friends are coming- they have a vested interest in this case as well."

"Well, if you think you know who it is, then tell me!" Ironwood repeated. "Tell the police! Tell _somebody!_ "

"Would that it were that simple," Ren sighed. "The circumstances occurring here are rather... unique. I don't dare take any steps before my friends arrive."

"Penny may not have that time!" Ironwood barked.

A ringing silence fell, and a dark suspicion set in on the old general. "You think she's already gone, don't you?"

Ren bit his lip, but his lack of answer seemed enough for his guest. "Very well. If you don't intend to help me, I'll go out and find her myself."

He stood and was halfway to the door before he heard a soft voice speaking up. "Wait a moment."

Ironwood stopped and turned to see Ren rising to his feet. He headed upstairs, and there was a moment of rustling around before he reappeared, descending the stairs. "The best advice I could give you, Mr. Ironwood, would be to wait for my friends- but I know you won't." He fixed Ironwood with a piercing gaze. "I know it because I've seen that look on your face before- a close friend of mine lost someone important to her once, and trying to stop her was just as futile as I imagine it would be for you. So, instead..."

He raised a fist and opened it to reveal a small charm, attached to a silver necklace- in black and white, it bore the symbols of Yin and Yang. "What is this?" Ironwood asked, confused.

"A talisman, of sorts, I guess you could say," Ren answered, his gaze unflinching as ever. "It's been passed down in my family for generations. Stories say it protects from evil spirits. I know a man like you likely doesn't hold with such things, but nonetheless- I'd be very grateful if you took it with you."

Ironwood scoffed. "I hardly think a necklace will help me find my daughter."

Ren held his gaze steady. "Mr. Ironwood, I have reason to believe that the person who kidnaped your daughter is armed and _extremely_ dangerous. I would like to help you, but I can't- not until my friends arrive. Until then, this is the greatest help I can give you. I know you likely see it as pointless superstition, but I _beg_ you to take it anyways." He tilted his head slightly. "If you won't see it as protective, then at least consider it a token of my promise to help. The second my friends arrive, we'll join you in your investigation, and you can return it. Please... just take it."

Ironwood wasn't certain what did it- the intensity in the other man's eyes, something in his words... but he found himself reaching out and accepting the small charm. "Good night, Mr. Ironwood." Ren inclined his head slightly before retreating back into his house.

"... Good night, Mr. Ren," Ironwood responded, somewhat belatedly.

He turned away and examined the pendant closely- the charm was a very thin disk, leaving no room for anything to be hidden, while the necklace was made of some sort of silver. He threw one last glance back at the house. "Odd..."

He then turned and set off down the road, tucking the necklace away into a pocket.

XXXX

Ironwood was on his way back to his hotel when he heard something odd- a strain of music echoing through the town. At first, he brushed it aside as someone throwing a party, until he recognized it as calliope music- the type often associated with fairs and carnivals- but there shouldn't be any of those in town, not this time of year...

He paused again when he passed by a telephone poll containing what he initially brushed aside as a missing poster- until he recognized the picture on it. He immediately turned to it and snatched it away from the poll.

Right in the paper's center was a black-and-white image of a girl. Her hair extended no further than her neck, in large curls, held in place by a large bow. Beneath a few freckles on her face, she had a wide smile for the camera, and below that, a rather old-fashioned blouse and overalls.

Aside from the image, the paper was stylized in the fashion of old carnival flyers, proudly announcing in stylized text:

COME AND SEE THE AMAZING

PENNY POLENDINA!

SHE DANCES, SHE SINGS, SHE CONTORTS!

Beneath this was an address.

Something clicked. Carnival- the calliope music. He turned and, without much in the way of conscious thought, began sprinting towards the music.

As he ran, one hand reached towards the belt beneath his coat, and the handgun it contained.

In what seemed like no time at all, he was arriving at the rusty gates surrounding Vale's Old Fairgrounds, abandoned for over a century at this point- and yet, suddenly brimming with life. The gate had fallen down a long time ago, leaving nothing to impede him as he charged in, pulling out the gun and keeping it at the ready.

Something was... off. The rides, despite over a hundred years of disuse, were suddenly very much active again- carousels spinning, music playing, lights flashing, Ferris Wheel turning, and the vague sounds of popcorn popping and countless other machines all whirring away. The music was louder here than ever before.

Despite all this, the park was... desolate. There was not a single person in sight- not on any of the rides, not playing any of the games, not attending any of the attractions at all.

His pace slowed as he began looking more intently- for Penny or her kidnapper. He was certain they were here- one or the other.

"Hello, James..."

He spun around, searching for the source of the cool, feminine voice he'd just heard. Despite it sounding as though the source had been speaking directly into his ear, there was hardly anybody to be found around him. "Where are you?!" There was no fear in his voice- it was hardly a question. It was an order.

"You're here to take your daughter back, aren't you, Jimmy?" the voice spoke again. "But what if she doesn't want to come back? What if you're... not enough for her?"

Ironwood gritted his teeth- it was true that he'd had little time for Penny for a while now- such was a large reason behind this vacation in the first place. He wanted to finally have a chance to spend some time with the girl he'd adopted. But how could this voice know that?

"Oh, yes, little Penny opened up her heart to me." The voice gave a light laugh. "'Daddy never has enough time for me! Daddy is always too busy with his work! Daddy always leaves me... leaves me all alone...'"

"Shut up!" Ironwood roared. "Show yourself!"

"Over here..." The voice crooned. He turned to face it.

A shadow lurked at the end of a long alley between two tents. It was short, and he could see long hair, but neither of those things were what caught his eye.

What _did_ were the two long arms stretching from either side- too long for the tallest people Ironwood knew, let along the short figure before him. They reached far enough to touch the tents on either side- tents that were standing at _least_ ten feet apart.

"What are you?!" he yelled, bringing the gun up- _now_ there was fear in his voice.

"Nothing like you've ever seen," the voice crooned. "The one who took your daughter, and now, the one who will take you."

Ironwood let loose with the gun, firing several shots in a row. The woman didn't even flinch, continuing a slow, steady walk towards him.

Loathe as he was to do it, Ironwood did the only thing that made sense- he turned and ran. The bright colors of the tents became a blur as he tore past them, brought to a halt only when he heard a desperate voice from one nearby- "Daddy?"

He dug his heels into the ground, bringing himself to a dead stop. "Penny?" He turned, trying to follow the voice to its source. "Penny!"

"Daddy!" the voice called out again, desperation clear. "The tent- the yellow tent!"

Ironwood zeroed in on the nearby yellow tent and charged through the flap.

The inside was empty except for the chair in the center, upon which sat a gruesome sight.

It was Penny, alright- with her neck forced to the side, her head dangling like that of a rag doll. Her eyes were blank, and the way her body lay in the chair indicated her neck was far from the only thing to be broken before she'd died. On her face was an empty, vacant smile.

"But... no..." Ironwood collapsed in front of her, his legs losing all feeling. "I heard her... she was still alive..."

"It's okay, Daddy," spoke a new voice, a bizarre one seemingly comprised of two others- the voice of Penny, and the voice of that woman. Ironwood looked up to see his daughter's body somehow moving- rising to its feet and beginning to stagger towards him, one lopsided step at a time, her neck continuing to dangle, her face frozen in that vacant smile the whole time. "The Ice Cream Lady invited us here so we could play together forever. Isn't that great, Daddy?"

Part of Ironwood yelled at him to raise his gun, but he couldn't. No matter what, he couldn't raise a weapon against his daughter. "Penny..."

"It's all I ever wanted, Daddy- I just wanted to play with you." Penny was continuing to speak, despite her lips hardly moving from that frozen grin. "Come play with me, Daddy. Come play with me. Come play with me! _Come play with me!_ COME PLAY WITH ME!"

Ironwood's last thoughts, as his daughter's hands closed around his throat, was of the fear he thought he'd seen in Lie Ren's eyes before they'd parted ways at his front door. For someone who'd made somewhat of a name for himself as a private investigator, Ironwood had been uncertain what could cause such dread.

He understood now.

XXXX

Please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	22. Yang Xiao Long Visits a Grave (A)

Gamer4 in. Okay, I _may_ have gotten distracted for a little bit by an onslaught of Senran Kagura... but now it's time to jump back in. As ever, hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: There's a day when we'll fight, and we're not gonna fall, there's a day when we'll stand and a day when we won't crawl anymore!

Chapter XXI

Yang Xiao Long Visits a Grave

 _Yang bit her lip as she stood outside the hospital door, standing alongside her father. Both of them had solemn looks on their faces as they waited for any news of what was happening within._

 _At long last, an equally solemn-looking doctor came out, meeting their eyes and listlessly shaking his head. "It doesn't look good," he admitted. "If... if you'd like to talk to him, now's the time."_

" _You want to go first, Sunflower?" Taiyang offered. Yang's eyes widened momentarily, but she ultimately nodded and entered the door, crossing the room within until she stood beside the bed containing her Uncle Qrow._

 _He looked terrible- his eyes were already fading, but they seemed to brighten marginally when he spied Yang approaching. "Hey, there, kiddo," he rasped._

 _Yang chuckled weakly. "Not really a kid anymore, Qrow- I'll be graduating from film school in a couple months."_

" _Wish that I could be there for that," Qrow smiled. "Not looking that likely now, though, is it?"_

" _It's... unfortunate," Yang nodded, echoing one of Qrow's favorite refrains whenever something went wrong._

 _Qrow responded with a weak chuckle. "Well... I hate to leave you and the big guy behind, but that's the way the cookie crumbles, I guess. It was a good run..."_

" _Don't talk like that," Yang shook her head weakly._

" _Don't worry about it," Qrow continued. "The only thing I wish is that... well, I wish I knew what happened to Ruby..."_

 _Yang froze. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something in the back of her mind, struggling to break through- but it seemed as though a wall were erected in its way, keeping it from being remembered. "Yeah," she finally whispered. "I wish I knew, too."_

 _Qrow looked up at her. "Sorry to bring it up- I know it affected you, too. Can't have been easy..."_

 _He seemed to be mulling something over. Finally, he raised his arm and beckoned her closer. "Get over here, kiddo."_

 _Yang took a few steps closer, and, at his further beckoning, bent over._

" _Close your eyes," he muttered. Yang did so._

 _A moment later, she felt something around her neck, and heard a light snapping noise. "_ There _we go," Qrow whispered. Yang stood upright and looked down to see a silver cross around her neck- a cross leaning heavily to one side. Unmistakably, the very cross that Qrow himself had worn throughout most of his life._

" _You..." Yang looked up at him in surprise._

" _Won't be much use to me where I'm going," Qrow shrugged. "Just keep that with ya, and I'll keep an eye out for you from... wherever I'm heading."_

 _Yang's eyes began to water, until she was bending down and embracing her Uncle, finally allowing the tears to fall._

" _Hey, it's alright, there, Sunflower," Qrow whispered, stroking her hair gently. "Remind me again- what do you do?"_

 _Yang looked up with a weak, watery smile, and struggled to get the answer out- "I..."_

XXXX

"I burn! Can't stop me now- you've got nothing that can hold me! I burn! Swing all you want- like a fever, I'll take you down!"

Yang sat bolt upright in her bed, looking around her frantically, panicking momentarily when she didn't recognize the room- only to calm herself when she remembered the events of the past day or two. _Right,_ she thought. _A hotel- I'm back in Vale._ The thought did little to comfort her.

"Reign supreme, in your dreams. You'll never make me bow! Kick my ass? I'm world-class, and super saiyan now!"

Finally, she turned to the source of the noise- her scroll was ringing. She reached out and picked it up, immediately recognizing the number. "Ren?"

"Ah, Yang- good. Where are you right now?"

Yang blinked- the last time she'd received a call from Ren, she'd struggled to recognize his voice. Now, it was like they'd been talking together for years. She decided not to voice this thought. "I'm in Vale," she answered. "I just woke up- I spent last night in the Austin Hotel."

"Good, good, glad to hear it," Ren's voice came back. "You remember where we're meeting up, right?"

"A Simple Wok," Yang recalled. "You say it's a full restaurant now?"

"Yes," Ren concurred. "Things have certainly changed quite a bit since you all left."

"I noticed," Yang nodded. A simple look out her window was enough to prove that- Vale had grown by leaps and bounds since she'd last set foot inside its borders. It had grown from a large town to a small city. She was just thankful that the Emerald Forest remained untouched. Despite not even remembering the name a couple days ago, she now recalled it as among her favorite haunts when she'd lived here so many years earlier.

"So, we're set up to meet half past noon," Ren continued, "but if you're already in the neighborhood, I was wondering if you felt like stopping by my place for an hour or so first."

"Is something wrong?" Yang asked, immediately going into high alert.

"You... could say that," Ren answered slowly. "But... aside from that, I have a little get-together present for you."

"A present?" Yang quirked a brow. "You didn't have to-"

"You'll understand if you come," Ren interrupted. "Will you?"

Yang's brow furrowed, but she ultimately nodded. "Alright- want to give me the address? I can catch a cab..."

Ren listed off his address, pausing to allow Yang to write it down. "Alright- you got it?"

"Yeah- yeah, I've got it."

"Good. See you in a bit."

Yang hung up. She looked around her room, before finally beginning to dress. Just before she headed out the door, she paused as she lifted a necklace in front of her- a necklace bearing a rather crooked cross. She had hardly removed it except to sleep ever since receiving it from her Uncle Qrow, five or so years after leaving Vale behind. He had died a week or so after passing it on to her- claimed by a disease she couldn't pretend to remember the name of. True to his word, she felt somehow... safer when she wore it, as though he was, in some way, watching her back from wherever he now was.

Slowly, she tucked the cross away before turning and leaving the room.

XXXX

On the outside, it didn't take long for her to find a cab. She had only been standing on the side of the road for a minute or two when a bright yellow car pulled up alongside her, driven by a young man dressed all in green. "You need a ride, boss?"

"Yeah- can you take me to this address?" she asked, extending the paper with Ren's address out to him.

The youth took it and examined it intently. "Ah- heading to old man Ren's place, huh?"

"'Old man' Ren?" Yang asked, quirking a brow.

"Well- not really all that old," the young man admitted. "I just like calling him that. Yeah, everyone knows that place- I can take you right there. Hop on in!"

Yang did so, assuming the passenger seat and staring out the window as the vehicle spurred into motion.

As they took off, Yang glanced at him curiously. He had blond hair and blue eyes- not that dissimilar from hers, though his hair was a little more bleached, and his eyes perhaps a few shades darker. Beyond that, he seemed to be around the same age she'd been when she'd last been in Vale- maybe even a couple years younger. "No offense, but... aren't you a little young to be driving a cab?"

"It's a part-time thing," her driver waved aside. "Mostly, I'm doing it to pay back a friend of mine- he worked his butt off for me a year or two back, it's about time for me to repay the favor, you know?"

"I see," Yang nodded, leaning back in her seat. "So, how long have you been in Vale?"

"Oh, me and my family live in a cottage just at the edge," the man replied. "It's a nice place- we've got some rolling fields around us, a nice blue sky..."

Yang tuned out as the young man continued to ramble on, gazing out of the window as the New Vale- as she was beginning to think of it- whizzed by the window. The sky was a steely grey, reflecting the change in seasons as November drew steadily to a close. Buildings taller than anything she remembered passed by, entire blocks consumed by industry. Then, it all stopped, and they were passing by some of the fields that remained- rolling hills, green grass, a tall steel gate-

"Hey," she spoke up. "Could you- could we make a quick detour?"

"You're the boss, boss," her driver nodded. "Where to?"

"If I'm not wrong- isn't that Vale Cemetery?"

XXXX

Loyally, the young man behind the car's wheel pulled into the cemetery at the first opportunity, coming to a stop at the outer edges. "How long do you want me to wait, boss?" he asked, his brow furrowed in concern as he watched her exit the cab.

"It should just be a few minutes!" Yang called over her shoulder. "I'll be right back!"

The young man nodded, but Yang's eyes were fixed on the graves- following one tombstone after another. Unbeknownst to her, she even passed the spot that Roman Torchwick was soon to be interred, though it had yet to be disturbed at all.

She continued deeper and deeper into the yard, until she finally found one particularly large headstone with faded writing-

HERE LIES

SUMMER ROSE

758-785

AND HER DAUGHTER

RUBY ROSE

783-798

 _LIKE THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER_

 _THUS KINDLY I SCATTER_

Her eyes began to fill with tears as she reached out and caressed the top of the stone. "Ruby," she whispered. "How... how did I ever forget about you?"

It had begun with forgetting details about her death- when she had told her Uncle Qrow that she wished she knew the truth behind her sister's demise, she had spoken in full honesty- somehow, she had managed to genuinely forget. By the time she was living with Scarlet, the name Ruby had almost entirely vanished from her mind, until she hardly connected any emotion at all to it when she related the story of her death. Just a name and a date. How? How could she have forgotten her beloved sister so thoroughly?

She knelt down and bowed her head, in thought, in sorrow, and in reverance.

A moment later, a soft voice spoke behind her. "Still clinging on to the past, Yang?"

She spun around and froze as all her nightmares from the past twenty-seven years suddenly came to life before her.

Just behind her, only ten to fifteen feet away from the grave of her mother and sister, as a row of open graves- six altogether. And sitting at the edge of the leftmost one, lightly kicking her legs like a child, was a woman with multicolored hair and eyes, one arm on the ground, the other holding a parasol over her shoulders. She flashed a wicked smile in Yang's direction. "It's not healthy, you know- you'll drive yourself to an early grave."

Yang jumped to her feet and took an involuntary step back. "Y-y-you!" She winced as her stutter returned- and after she'd managed to stave it off throughout that morning.

"I-i-it's m-m-me, alright, Y-Y-Yang," the woman smirked, moving her jaw exaggeratedly as she mimicked Yang's stammer. "It's been so long, hasn't it? In honor of our... _special_ relationship, I've taken the liberty of digging you and your friends graves." She motioned to the open graves beside her. "Pick your favorite!" Abruptly, she snapped her fingers, as if just remembering something. "Oh, except for that one at the end- one of your friends already called dibs."

She pointed, and Yang followed the finger towards a mound of freshly-turned earth marking a seventh grave- one that had already been filled. There was even a headstone, though it bore no writing to indicate who or what was buried there.

Yang turned back towards the woman, her eyes flickering between light blue and dark red, mimicking the war going on in her mind between abject terror and blind fury. A name came to her lips, and she began to shout. "F-fuck you, N-Neo! W-we stopped you b-before, and-"

Neo threw back her head and unleashed a terrible noise- a noise that prompted Yang to throw her hands up to her ears. A ghastly combination of shrieking and howling that seemed to pierce the heavens themselves. A chill ran down Yang's spine as she finally realized what it was- Neo was _laughing._

"You 'stopped' me, did you?" Neo cackled. "Is _that_ how you remember it?"

Yang readied a retort, only to falter- the truth was, her memory of that summer was incredibly fragmented- only bits and pieces were coming back to her at a time, and of their final confrontation with Neo- she could remember nothing at all.

She didn't answer, but her silence seemed to be enough for Neo, as her grin widened. "Let me remind you what _really_ happened," she spoke up, steadily rising to her feet. "You and your friends managed to track me down to my home just as I was about to go to sleep- I can only assume that when I did, you all thought you'd ' _stopped_ ' me. Sorry to break the illusion like that, _kiddo,_ but the truth is always better, isn't it?"

Yang took another step backwards as Neo continued to move closer to her, her teeth beginning to grow longer and sharper. Somehow, however, this didn't affect her speech. "You couldn't stop me then, and you have no chance now- you're too old! You're all too old!"

As she began to reach out, Yang moved, almost on instinct- she reached to her neck and pulled out the cross that had remained hidden until now- removing it from her neck and holding it in front of her without any clear idea why she was doing so.

Neo stopped in her tracks, her hand still outstretched. Slowly, she pulled it back, eyeing the cross with what may have been repulsion. Slowly, her teeth returned to a normal size and shape, and she returned her eyes to Yang's face. "So you still remember _some_ of the game," she seemed to muse. "Oh, well. You still can't ' _stop'_ me."

She began to walk backwards. "I'll give you one last chance, then. You're safe for the rest of today, but when night falls, I'm coming for you. I will find you, and I will take you and all of your friends. But if you've left- if you're outside the borders of Vale- and if you never come back- you can return to your happy life, to grow and prosper until your heart finally gives out, the insects consume your flesh, and your bones return to dust."

Yang kept her eyes fixed on Neo as she continued to walk backwards. "Go on, Yang- leave this town and let your loser friends die on their own, if they want. Just go back to your little red friend and your movies, and forget all about the dark things. If you're still here tonight... you're mine."

Yang was on the verge of responding when another voice sounded off behind her. "You doing alright, boss?"

She spun around to see the driver of the cab, arms crossed and a somewhat concerned look on his face. She immediately turned back towards Neo, ready to brandish her cross again, only to see nothing at all- no Neo, no open graves.

Finally, back to her driver. "I... I'm f-f-fine," she nodded. "I'm r-ready now."

The youth didn't seem much less concerned, but he nodded and led her back to the cab.

XXXX

At long last, they pulled up outside a small two-story house in the older area of Vale- the part that most closely resembled what Yang remembered.

"Welp, whatever you need to talk to old man Ren about, hope it goes alright," the driver smiled at her as she disembarked. "If you need help, no one better to go to."

"Th-thanks," Yang nodded. "You're a-a-alright."

"Just remember that when you're putting in a tip," the man smiled.

Yang nodded, producing a fair amount of lien, prompting a smile from her driver before he took off, leaving her behind.

She turned to the house and walked up to its front porch. She glanced around- she didn't want to reunite with Ren after all these years looking like a scared kid. What was it she'd always said when she was a kid to get her stutter under control? Well, of course- how could she forget?

"H-hotter than the s-s-sun in the m-middle of July, I b-burn... hotter than the sun in the middle of July, I burn..."

Continuing to mutter the mantra to herself, she reached out and gave a few sharp knocks on the door.

A moment later, the door opened, revealing a tall man with long black hair, tinged with a streak or two of grey... and a prominent lock of pink that matched his eyes.

A smile stretched over his face when he caught sight of her- not quite matching the wide, beaming grin she could feel stretching over her face at the sight of him. "Yang Xiao Long," he finally spoke. "Welcome back."

Without anything further, the two embraced, Yang delivering one of her famous bear hugs, Ren taking it with grace and responding with a firm grip himself.

Finally, they broke apart. Ren turned back inside. "Come on in- I'll make you some tea."

Yang continued smiling as she stepped in. "I'd rather have some beer, if you've got it."

"Can't say I do," Ren replied apologetically. "I'll go out and get a drink every now and again, but I don't really keep any in the house- especially not lately."

"Then tea it is!" Yang shrugged as Ren headed into the kitchen.

"I know it's a small place," Ren called from the kitchen. "I'm a bachelor, after all- I don't need much more. But still, make yourself at home!"

Well, when Yang pictured a bachelor's house, it was generally much different from the well-kept, nearly-spotless building she was seeing now, but when she factored in that said bachelor was Lie Ren- it started to make a little more sense. She removed her boots at the door before crossing to the living room, leaning back on the sofa and raising her feet onto the coffee table.

As she waited, she found her eyes drawn to a shelf nearby stacked with books and a few movies- the titles of which caught her eye immediately. _Outsiders: Death Pact, Citrine Branwen's The Entity,_ and even _Mischief Night,_ one of the earliest movies she was ever in- albeit as a bit part who was killed off rather quickly.

Finally, Ren reappeared with two cups on a tray, steam rising gently from them both. He placed them on the coffee table, picked up his cup, and took a seat across from her. "So... where to begin?"

Yang lowered her feet, leaned forward to take her cup, and leaned back, taking a sip of the tea before setting it aside. "Well... I saw something on the way here..."

Ren met her eyes. "Neo?"

Yang nodded slowly. "Neo."

Ren raised a hand. "Save it for when we meet the others- I don't want to put you through that more than once."

"Alright," Yang conceded. "You say something's wrong with you?"

Ren bit his lip slightly before taking another drink. "Last night, I was approached by James Ironwood- you know who-"

"The old general of the Atlesian army, right?" Yang guessed, recalling seeing the name on the news every now and again.

"That's the one," Ren nodded. "He said he'd come to Vale for vacation, but his daughter went missing."

Yang clenched her eyes shut. "Y-You th-think..."

"I think," Ren agreed, now narrowing his eyes slightly at her. "Your stutter..."

Yang mentally cursed at her slip. "Y-yeah... it's c-come b-back..."

Ren looked solemnly into his cup. "Did it start when... when I..."

"Yes," Yang answered honestly. Seeing him closing his eyes, she continued. "B-but I don't b-b-blame you. I p-promised to c-come back, and I'd n-n-never break it."

Ren nodded his head slowly. "Still... I'm sorry."

A moment of silence passed between them, then Yang finally prompted, "S-so... he was l-l-looking for his d-daughter?"

"Yes," Ren nodded. "But there's little doubt in my mind as to what happened to her."

Yang fixed her gaze with his. "What d-did you d-d-do?"

"I tried to talk him out of looking on his own- I said I'd look into it when my friends arrived. But he was still determined, so I sent him off with a talisman, of sorts- a Taijitu."

"You c-couldn't stop him?"

"No- I knew I couldn't. He had that same look in his eye- that same look you always had, way back when..."

Yang nodded- she knew exactly how she'd have reacted in Ironwood's place. "And th-then?"

"I don't know," Ren admitted, biting his lip again as he glanced out the window. "I haven't heard from him since. Part of me thinks... I'm worried that he might have been taken now, too."

Yang looked at her friend's tortured face for a moment before shaking her head. "You d-did everything you c-could. You w-warned him, t-tried to p-protect him... whatever h-happened, it's not on y-you."

"I wish I could bring myself to believe that," Ren nodded. "I truly do."

Yang hesitated. "W-well... we d-don't even kn-know if anything _has_ h-happened- remember th-that. M-maybe he's st-still investigating out there."

"I suppose that's feasible as well," Ren nodded. "And I hope you're right."

Yang looked around, searching for a change of subject. "Y-you said you had a p-present for me?"

Ren's head snapped up. "Oh, yes- how could I forget? Follow me."

They both set their tea down, and Yang followed him into the kitchen and out the back door into a small yard. Ren led her to a small shack in the yard's corner, looking very worn by the ravages of time. He reached out and grabbed the door's handle before turning back to her. "I say it's a present, but it's technically yours already- I'm just returning it to you." He smiled softly as he finally opened the door, revealing a large black and yellow bicycle.

"Bumblebee!" Yang gasped, slowly approaching. "Wow- I... it's b-been..."

"Years, I know," Ren smiled as he watched her reach out and begin to caress the handlebars with almost unusual care. "I hear you got a motorbike, too?"

"Yeah," Yang nodded, a smile crossing her face as she lovingly stroked the parts of her old, beloved bike. "It's almost identical, too... I saw it in a store one day and knew I had to get it... but I don't think I remembered, until now... the original Bumblebee..."

Ren placed a hand on her shoulder. "I saw her in a secondhand bike shop one day. She had a flat tire, so I got a good deal. But the funny thing is, just a week or so earlier, on an impulse, I'd bought just the right tools to fix it."

Yang looked up at him, eyebrows arched in what seemed like disbelief. Ren chuckled. "I know it sounds crazy, but... all those years ago, I swear there was something looking out for us. Maybe... maybe this is a sign that whatever it was, it's still here."

Abruptly, he bent down to Yang's level and lowered his voice conspiratorially. "You know, there's a nice park not too far from here... want to take her for a spin?"

XXXX

What ensued was one of the greatest hours Yang had had in years, as she and Ren guided Bumblebee to the park he'd mentioned and began driving her around, taking turns showing off stupid little tricks. Yang worked up the speed, then removed her legs from the pedals and raised them over the front wheel, allowing Bumblebee to take her where it would. Ren, not to be outdone, built up some momentum before hopping up and placing a foot on the seat, sticking the other out behind him as he steered her around.

As they drove the bike around, a curious thing happened- years seemed to fall away from their faces, until Yang could swear that the grey streaks in Ren's hair had returned to a solid black- all the lines in both their faces had vanished- they were no longer Yang Xiao Long, alias Citrine Branwen, actress and co-writer of too many movies to count, and Lie Ren, the aging librarian of Vale, but simply Yang and Ren, two high school students once more, having fun as they rode around and showed off on a bike in a back lot as the sun set just after completing their homework.

Perhaps spurred by this idea, she turned to Ren and asked, "D'ya think she can still hold two of us?"

Ren smiled back. "One way to find out."

Yang hopped on the seat, and Ren hopped on behind, wrapping his arms around her as she called out, "Come on, Bumblebee! Let's roll!"

She took off, and just as had occurred so many times in her youth, as Bumblebee built up speed, she seemed to leave all her problems behind- her encounter with Neo in the graveyard, the daunting task that still loomed ahead- all of it vanished, leaving her, Ren, and her trusty steed that, even now, carried them both with hardly any problems. Soon enough, Ren had released her, showing off one final time by turning around and sitting backwards on the bike, watching as everything fell away behind them.

At long last, they came to a stop. Yang was grinning wider than she had ever since receiving her phone call. Even Ren seemed much happier as they climbed off and began guiding the bike back towards his house.

"Thank you, Ren," Yang smiled at him. "Really, I can't thank you enough."

"When I saw her in the window, how could I not?" Ren asked as he guided Bumblebee back into his shack. "Feel free to grab her and take her home with you- as far as I'm concerned, she's yours, and always will be."

Yang nodded. "You can bet I will," she smiled.

As they re-entered the house, they checked the time- despite the sunset Yang had been imagining not ten minutes earlier, it was just coming up on noon.

"Ren," she almost whispered, glancing over at him.

Ren nodded, his smile starting to fade. "Right. It's not too far- within walking distance, even. I'll show you the way."

Yang nodded as they left through his front door. Ren turned around to lock it, then back to her. "Are you ready for a Team Loser reunion?"

"More than," Yang nodded, glad to note her stutter seemed to fade away, at least for the moment. "It's about time."

 _XXXX_

Hopefully, this chapter makes up for the last one, and its relative lack of progression. Hope to see you again soon, and until then, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames, not so much, Gamer4 out.


	23. Team Loser Celebrates a Reunion (A)

Gamer4 in. You know, once I got into this story, it didn't take me long to realize I wanted to do one of my cross-universe adaptations of it- the only reason it took me as long as it did was deciding which universe to use. While RWBY was my first choice- and, obviously, the one I ended up going with- there were many other candidates as well. So, in the interest of having _something_ to say, my opening notes for the next few chapters will contain a quick blurb on those other candidates. Feel free to pass them up, of course- it's just a little behind-the-scenes information for those who are interested. Starting next chapter- these notes have gone on long enough. Let's get started! As always, please enjoy.

Disclaimer: There's a moment in time when there's no going back, when we push to hard and won't hold our attacks anymore!

Chapter XXII

Team Loser Celebrates a Reunion

Pyrrha Nikos paused in front of a large building, designed after traditional oriental architecture, gazing at her reflection in the dark window. Her heart was racing- once she entered this building, there would be no turning back- she'd meet all her friends once again, for the first time in almost three decades. After that... she wasn't sure. Her memories were still incredibly foggy- just what _had_ that promise been?

She sighed one last time, steeling herself- this was turning out to be harder than any fight she'd ever participated in. She felt as though her hand was moving in slow motion as she watched it extend out and finally push the door open.

The inside was calm and quiet, and she immediately found her eyes drawn to a tank of fish with a calming blue light set around the lobby area in the shape of a horseshoe. In the center was a desk behind which a woman stood- a foot or so shorter than Pyrrha herself, with dark, muddy green eyes and dressed in eastern garb that perfectly matched the decor of the restaurant.

The woman smiled at her. "Good afternoon, and welcome to-" she paused, shock etching itself into her face. "You're... you're..."

Pyrrha sighed internally, while smiling on the outside. Perhaps she should have expected this- given how widespread her name had become, it was, if anything, surprising that it had taken _this_ long to be recognized. "Pyrrha Nikos, yes," she nodded as politely as ever.

"Oh... my..." the woman seemed to be struggling between her emotions and professionalism. "I... I just wanted to say, I'm a huge fan!"

"I appreciate it," Pyrrha smiled.

"What would you like?" the woman asked quickly. "I can get you a table anywhere you want-"

"I'm here to meet a friend, actually," Pyrrha spoke up, glancing around in search of said friend. "Mr. Lie Ren?" She couldn't help blinking at how odd it was to address her old comrade with an honorific like that.

"Ren?" the waitress's eyebrows raised. "You're friends with Lie Ren? Wonders never cease- he's kind of a celebrity around here, too!"

"I see," Pyrra smiled. "And... is he here yet? We were supposed to meet up a little after noon..."

"Just a second..."

The waitress ducked under the desk and produced a small book that she began flipping through. Finally, she broke into a grin, placing a finger on one of the pages. "Yep, there it is! Lie Ren put a reservation on the Lotus Lounge for you- you have a whole room to yourself!"

With that, she stepped out from behind the desk, still struggling to contain her enthusiasm. "Please, let me lead you there..."

Pyrrha nodded, and allowed the woman to guide her towards the back of the restaurant, where she was introduced to a large chamber with red wallpaper and carpeting. In the center was a long dining table, and there seemed to be an open bar along the sides.

"You're the first one here," the waitress explained, somewhat unnecessarily. "Well... I'll be back in a bit- feel free to make yourself a drink while you wait!"

"I believe I will, Ms..."

"Newman," the waitress smiled, eagerly accepting and shaking Pyrrha's offered hand. "Kim Newman."

Pyrrha nodded respectfully as Ms. Newman turned and left the room, allowing her some time to begin examining the drinks in the bar.

XXXX

Weiss paused just before she pushed open the door to the restaurant in front of her. Her eyes had been drawn to her reflection in the window before her, where she could see now more clearly than ever the dark red mark over her left eye. Truth be told, she had no recollection of ever receiving an injury that would cause such a scar- and yet there it was. It wasn't in any memories she had of her childhood until around the time she left Vale- where it suddenly popped into existence, and remained up to the present day.

Her attention returned to the restaurant. Did the answers lie inside? If she entered and reunited with her friends, would her memories of that summer begin to return- including the memory of the scar? If so, did she really want them to?

She shook her head- she could practically hear Yang's taunting voice in the back of her mind. _Come on, Weissy! Weiss-so slow?_

"Shut up, Yang," she muttered quietly, then gave an equally soft laugh- twenty-five years of not thinking about Yang at all, and suddenly she could remember her and her puns like it was just yesterday.

It didn't matter what reservations she held about this course of action- she had _promised_ to come back, and even if she didn't recall the full details of it, a Schnee _always_ kept their promises.

She opened the door and walked up to the waitress inside. "Excuse me?" she greeted. "I'm looking for the Ren party..."

The waitress beamed right back at her. "Well, you're just in time- one of your friends got here just a moment ago!"

Weiss's blood seemed to turn to ice- someone was already here? Somehow, that simple fact seemed to bring everything much closer all at once. She forced a smile. "You don't say..."

"I'll take you back right away." The waitress offered a slight bow before stepping out from behind the counter.

Weiss felt as though she was walking through molasses as she followed the waitress to a door near the back. When she finally stepped in, the waitress's words faded into background noise when she saw another woman there- tall, slim, with a mane of long red hair that she couldn't mistake...

"Pyrrha," she almost whispered.

Pyrrha turned, and her emerald eyes widened when she saw the woman behind her. "W... Weiss!"

Before the waitress had any time to respond, the two women had crossed the space between them and embraced like sisters- Weiss now having to stand on tiptoe to reach.

Ms. Newman blinked at the display of affection before her. "You really _are_ friends, aren't you?"

"We knew each other- a long, _long_ time ago," Pyrrha looked up at her host over Weiss hair. "We remember when this place was just a noodle stand..."

"A noodle stand?" Newman asked, looking surprised. "Well, I... I never heard of that..."

"It was long before your time, Kim," came a new voice from the doorway, and they all turned to see a man in pale green standing next to a wild mane of blond. The man smiled around at them all. "Back when we were all still in high school."

"Yang!" Weiss's eyes widened, and this time, her feet actually left the ground as she pulled Yang into a hug- matched by one of Yang's own bone-breaking grips. "It's been so long..."

"Good to see you, too, Ice Queen!" Yang grinned as she took in the fresh, crisp scent surrounding her old friend.

Meanwhile, Ren approached Pyrrha, offering his hand. "It's been too long, Ms. Nikos."

"Oh, stop it," Pyrrha shook her head, smiling, before pulling Ren into a hug of her own. "You know Pyrrha will do just fine."

Abruptly, a slamming noise came in from the outside, causing everyone to spin around. Newman blinked in surprise, only more so when her four guests seemed to raise their guard at the sound.

"Is... is something wrong?" she asked.

"Stay back, Kim," Ren spoke up, taking a step closer to the door.

A moment passed, the hairs on Pyrrha, Weiss, Yang, and Ren's necks all standing up, until finally, a feminine figure appeared in the doorway.

XXXX

Unlike the others, Nora Valkyrie did not hesitate in the doorway. Her excitement to see her friends at last saw her right through, quenching the fear she'd initially felt upon receiving the call.

She faltered in front of the Lotus Lounge instead.

She had seen Yang and Ren at the back of the restaurant from the front, and, impulsive as ever, immediately moved to follow. It was only when she saw four members of her old team standing together and exchanging their greetings and hugs that she staggered backwards, the full weight of what was happening finally crashing into her with the strength of a tidal wave. Rather than entering, she made a sharp turn to the nearby restroom, slamming the door behind her.

She approached the sink, immediately running some cold water and splashing it back onto her face before looking up into the mirror- her face was, once more, white as a sheet.

"You can't do that to them, Nora," she muttered to herself. "They need the funny, brave Nora- not the scared-out-of-her-pants Nora. Come on- you can do this. You can do this." It was almost the same speech as she'd given to herself before her first live show. She forced a smile for herself before stepping out and back towards the Lounge. Before entering, she made a show of hiding her face behind one of her arms before jumping in and loudly proclaiming, "Alright, let me brace myself- who's bald, who's fat, and who's got kids?"

She finally pulled her arm away and grinned at the people inside. One by one, the others lowered their defenses. Pyrrha and Yang beamed at her, while Weiss gave a small smile. However, her eyes were immediately drawn towards the man with the pink streak in his hair. "Er... Hello, Nora," Ren greeted her.

Nora responded by pulling him into a hug to rival even Yang's. "It hasn't been the same without you, Renny," she whispered.

Ren gave a small laugh, patting her lightly on the back. "Glad to see you, too."

They only stopped when they heard Yang giving a loud wolf-whistle. They turned to see her and Weiss smirking at them, while Pyrrha seemed to be struggling to conceal one herself. "What?" Nora asked, tilting her head slightly.

"I just hope we're not interrupting anything," Yang shrugged. "Just- if you guys _really_ want to go at it, maybe you should wait until _after_ lunch."

"Oh, Dust, Yang, you haven't changed at all," Weiss reprimanded, raising her mouth to hide her laughter.

"Um, excuse me?" came yet another voice, speaking meekly from the doorway.

It was a man- a tall blond man wearing a pair of rectangular spectacles over a rather rough beard and moustache. At the moment, he was standing in the doorway, smiling around at them all. "I... I guess I have the wrong place. I was going to meet up with a bunch of my friends, but they were all girls, not a group of beautiful women..."

A long silence fell, finally broken by Yang, who threw back her head in laughter. "Ever the charmer, eh, Jauney boy?"

"But you _can't_ be Jaune- like, _Jaune-_ Jaune!" Nora exclaimed, starting to babble. "The Jaune we knew was a little dweeb, not... not... _this!_ "

Jaune chuckled slightly. "Beep beep, Nora."

A wave seemed to roll over them all- Weiss's eyes widened. "That's right- beep beep! I forgot about that!"

"Aw, now you guys are all gonna start beeping me again," Nora glanced despondently at the ground.

"I think I have an idea of who wants to beep you, Nora," Yang waggled her eyebrows.

"Yang!" Pyrrha objected through her smile. In so little time, all the years separating them seemed to have fallen away, and they had all slipped immediately back into their old roles.

Ren glanced away from his friends and at their rather befuddled waitress. "Say, Kim... mind giving us some time before we order?"

"Of- of course," Newman nodded as she stepped out, eyes widened at all the celebrities before her- Yang Xiao Long, wasn't it? _And_ Nora Valkyrie? Talking with Pyrrha Nikos? Today was turning out to be quite the day...

As soon as she was gone, Ren raised a hand, drawing everyone's attention to him. "I can't begin to describe how good it is to see you all here," he smiled warmly. "Now, I know that there's some... business we have to discuss..." He paused a moment to take stock of everyone's reaction. The mood noticeably shifted when he mentioned the purpose behind their reunion- smiles vanished, eyes narrowed, and it felt as if a chill was settling in. "However," he continued, "I don't want to start us off on the wrong foot. Let's settle in, have a bite, and we can talk about the unpleasant things later."

Smiles started to return. Nora, predictably enough, was the first to speak. "So, are we finally going to address the elephant in the room?"

"Elephant?" Jaune asked, as he stood beside Pyrrha, getting started on a drink of his own.

"Pyrrha!" Nora burst. "Someone cut her in half!"

Pyrrha gave a light chuckle. "A little more than half, I think," she admitted.

"Wow- how did I not notice _that?!"_ Yang asked, staring at her. "You must have lost, what-"

"Two hundred pounds," Pyrrha cut her off, still smiling. "Conservatively."

"Come on, guys, are we really gonna do this?" Jaune asked, crossing his arms.

"It's alright," Pyrrha smiled, gazing around. "We've all undergone changes- mine is just the most obvious."

Right she was- she was much taller and thinner than she had been before, but was far from the only one to have changed. Weiss had grown as well- though she was still the shortest among them by about a head. Jaune had grown like a weed- he now stood on even footing with Ren and Pyrrha, though somewhat bulkier. Ren, to the others' surprise, now sported a few gray streaks in his hair, though it retained its overall dark coloring and- Nora in particular was overjoyed to see- a single pink lock in his bangs. Nora herself was only slightly taller than Weiss, and had grown her hair out in the years between- where the old Nora had a boyish haircut that hardly left her head, the new Nora had it stretching down past her shoulders. Yang, meanwhile, was probably the most similar- she had grown in many ways, from height to hair, but in large part, they all immediately recognized her as their old leader.

"Might I suggest ordering some lunch before we continue our discussion?" Ren spoke up. "I had a small breakfast, personally..."

"Aw, nah, we hafta wait for Blakey!" Nora interjected. "It's not Team Loser without her!"

Everyone stared as Ren looked down. "Ah... yes... well... about that..."

"Is something wrong?" Pyrrha asked, nerves entering her voice.

"Well... Blake may not be coming."

"What?" Jaune asked. "What do you mean, she might not come?"

Ren paused, searching for the proper words. "When I called each of you, you all agreed to come immediately- with varying degrees of reluctance. Blake, however, seemed the most reluctant of all, and was the only one not to deliver a firm answer. I put in a reservation for seven, just in case, but if she does come, it wouldn't surprise me if it's not for a while yet."

He scanned their faces, searching for feelings of betrayal- but saw none. Disappointment, yes. Even regret in one or two faces- he guessed those were the ones who had been the most reluctant to return themselves. But no anger or spite towards the one who had yet to arrive.

Yang finally shook her head. "She'll come," she insisted. "She was the one who helped us make the promise, after all- she'll definitely come."

"Right!" Nora nodded eagerly. "I'll have to kick her butt for keeping us waiting, but she'll definitely be here eventually!"

"She's certainly no coward," Weiss agreed. "I expect to hear from her before the day is out."

"Right," Ren nodded. "So... lunch?"

They took their seats around the table and began looking over the menus. Yang and Ren sat at the far ends of the table, Jaune and Pyrrha at Ren's sides, Nora and Weiss at Yang's. Yang looked up, and felt her heart warm at how natural they all seemed- Nora was babbling away at all the tasty-looking things on the menu, while Weiss examined it as though she were ordering her final meal. Jaune and Pyrrha seemed to be putting their heads together to work out what they should eat, while Ren alternated between examining his menu and the others, a small smile on his face.

At long last, Newman returned to take their orders and menus, and the talk truly began.

"So, Pyrrha!" Yang began, grinning down the table at her. "We've got time- want to give us that story about your miracle weight loss program?"

"Oh, it was nothing special," Pyrrha waved aside, even as she seemed to be trying to shrink into her chair. "A couple of push-ups, a couple of sit-ups..."

"Hate to break it to ya, but push-ups and sit-ups wouldn't exactly cover all... this!" Nora butted in, brandishing her hands dramatically. "So, come on, what happened?"

"I wouldn't mind knowing that myself," Weiss put in. "I mean, you could hardly run a lap in gym class, and now you're a world-renowned athlete. Such things don't just happen overnight."

Pyrrha picked up a spoon and looked into it, turning it around in thought. "Well... I suppose it started in my senior year of high school..."

She looked up to see all eyes on her. She sighed. "Well... you see... right after that summer... I transferred out again. My Mom's job always had us on the move- that's how I ended up in Vale in the first place, if you'll recall. I got to spend junior year here, but for senior year, I got whisked away again- back to Mistral. I suppose that school's really where it started."

She paused to take stock of her audience. Ren had folded his hands together and was resting his chin on top of them. Weiss had leaned back, crossing her arms. Yang and Nora had similar poses- slouched over with only their upraised arms keeping them from lying on the table. And, right across from her, Jaune was simply sitting there, listening quietly and politely to her narrative.

"It was pretty much the same there as everywhere else," she continued. "Plenty of bullies ready to pick on me over my problem. Even one of the teachers got in on it- Mr. Douglas, if I recall correctly. He was a big-time sports star before he came to our school, but once he took over our sports teams, things just kept getting worse.

"From one point of view, at least. From another point of view, things were getting better- our teams starting winning far more often- but the cost was great. He ran team practices like a boot camp. I know there are some coaches that practice harsh, but fair, and cause better things in the long run. I had a teacher like that, as well- he was the wrestling coach before Mr. Douglas came in. He was rough around the edges, but deep down, he cared about his students' success, and every harsh word was meant only to spur them onward.

"Mr. Douglas wasn't like that. He was downright cruel to those under his tutelage, even beating those that angered him. He used his fame and the notoriety he brought the school like a shield to protect himself from any consequence.

"Then I came in, a little fat kid with no skills of merit for him to exploit. He delighted in taunting me, forcing me into exercises he knew I couldn't accomplish and punishing me heavily when I failed. Some of the names he called me made Cardin Winchester seem civil. Fat slob and disgusting pig were some of the more polite ones."

She paused again- looks of anger had made their way onto all of her companions faces- except for Ren, who looked as calm and stoic as ever. Jaune was actually cracking his knuckles. "If only I'd been there..."

"I appreciate the thought," Pyrrha smiled at him. "But don't worry- let me finish.

"Eventually, I got sick of it. One day, he pushed me too hard, so I stood up to him, in front of everyone, and said, 'That's enough. You're wrong about me- and to prove it, by the end of this year, I'm going to take down everyone on your fighting team. One by one, all at once- I'll outfight them all either way. And then- I want an apology.'"

"Did you really?" Weiss asked skeptically, eyebrows raised. "That's quite the tale, and we've certainly seen no shortage of people embellishing real-life events lately."

"It sounds outlandish, I agree," Pyrrha nodded. "Even I'm not sure what came over me that day, but I _did_ say that- or something like it. I definitely issued that challenge- I remember that clearly. He laughed, of course- everyone in the gym did. I can see why, honestly. I could barely hold a weapon, and here I was, promising to defeat all his best fighters in combat. But I was determined.

"That night, I didn't take the bus home. I ran instead. I ran all the way home, and every time I thought I was about to give out, I just kept running. I knew that I would have to really push myself if I was going to keep _this_ promise, but I was certainly not going to back down.

"Needless to say, the first thing I did once I got home was throw up in the toilet."

This elicited some laughter from her audience. Nora reached over and patted her on the back as she chuckled. She smiled, then continued.

"The next thing was to convince my mother to go along with my plans. I think a large portion of the reason for my weight in the first place was her overprotectiveness. My father died at war when I was young, so she was always keen to dote on me instead. Three helpings at every meal may well lead to what you saw when you first met me.

"That was the most difficult part- trying to convince her to let me eat less. She came out with all the excuses you can imagine- I wasn't really fat, I just had big bones- it was just puppy fat, really, and a growing girl needs her nutrition. I nearly would have given in, except that I was still putting up with Mr. Douglas's goading every day.

"Next, she started asking if I truly despised her cooking so much. I tried to assure her that had nothing to do with it- if anything, I liked it a little _too_ much for my own good. She was going frantic, but I had to convince her somehow.

"Finally, we reached a compromise. I'd been hearing that one of the best ways to lose weight was to eat a mainly vegan diet- a whole lot of vegetables, so the theory went, didn't add up to nearly as much fat. And finally, I had her- it seems she didn't care so much about what I was eating, as long as I ate lots of it. So began the vegetarian stage of my life- nothing but salads for a solid six months."

"I noticed you getting some meat today..." Jaune put in slowly.

"Yes, well, I didn't _stay_ vegetarian," Pyrrha admitted. "Not as much protein in greens, either, and that's something you need in abundance in my line of work. Back then, though, I was working to _lose_ my weight, not maintain it.

"Eventually, I finally started seeing results- about two months in, and I'd lost seventy pounds. I started needing new clothes- my old ones were just too loose on me. That was about the time I started a membership with the YMDA- the Young Mistralian Dust Association. Think of it as a mega-gym with just about everything you could want- a pool, a court for every sport, treadmills, weight-lifting, and fighting classes. Naturally, it was their fighting classes I was interested in- weight was only part of the equation, after all.

"I still had quite a bit of weight on me when I went in, but true to their mission statement, they took me without question. The instructor was more like the wrestling coach- he wasn't shy to call me a slob, but he emphasized that if I was determined to change myself, he'd help me as long as I was willing to put in the work.

"I started to realize something as I was practicing with them all- I wasn't just doing this to show up Mr. Douglas anymore- I actually enjoyed fighting! I know it sounds strange, given how I am normally, but there's something so... thrilling in it." She paused again, smiling when she saw Yang grinning and nodding at her words. "At first, of course, I was routinely defeated- I had so little experience- but as I started learning, that started to change.

"Another few months on, and I'd lost another fifty pounds, and was hardly ever losing at all. I didn't even use my semblance- it would have made things easier, but I didn't want to use any tricks- if I did, it was as good as conceding defeat."

"Your semblance?" Nora asked. "When did you finally learn your semblance?"

"Oh, it was..." Pyrrha paused. When _had_ she learned it? "I... I can't remember..."

"Well, what is it?" Weiss asked, driving the conversation back on track.

"Oh, right," Pyrrha shook her head. "Well... I have control over polarity."

"Ohhhh... you can control poles?" Nora asked excitedly.

"No, no, Nora," Weiss sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "She can control _magnetism."_

"Magnets are cool, too," Nora chirped happily, leaning back in her chair.

"That _would_ be quite the advantage in most fights," Ren mused.

"And it is," Pyrrha agreed. "But I hardly ever use it- just once in a while, and never back then. Even in fights where it's allowed, it seems somehow... wrong."

"I see where you're coming from," Jaune nodded. "But... continue."

"Thank you," Pyrrha nodded. "By the time I was ready to challenge Douglas's team, I was hardly recognizable. I turned up to their practice in my armor, spear and shield at the ready. He was sneering, and told his team to jump me.

"It was a tough fight- tougher than any I've had since, honestly. It was four on one, and while I was still determined not to use my semblance, they had no such restrictions. By the end of it, I was battered and bruised, but I was the only one of us five that was still standing. I turned and staggered back to Douglas, looked him right in the eye, and said, 'I'll take that apology now, sir.'"

Yang let out a low whistle. "Bet he loved that."

"He struck me across the face, he loved it so much," Pyrrha nodded.

Jaune led a fierce outcry. "He _what?!"_

"Indeed," Pyrrha agreed. "But this time, he didn't get away with it. Some people from higher up in the school had been watching, and they were impressed by what I managed to do- so when they saw him hit me after winning, they weren't happy. That was the last year he worked at that school. Afterwards, I kept training at the Y, and working to keep the fat off, and... well... the rest is history."

By the time anyone could question her further, Newman returned with their food. Silence fell as they first began to dig in.

Not wanting to be questioned further, Pyrrha broke the following silence with, "So, how is everyone else doing? Is anyone married?"

Nora sat bolt upright in her seat, glancing none-too-subtly in Ren's direction, only to visibly slump in relief when he shook his head.

"I married a man I met in college," Weiss answered, rasing her left hand, where a blue ring adorned her finger. "Neptune Vasilias- he's been very good to me."

"Neptune Vasilias?" Yang asked, raising her eyebrows. "Did- did he ever mention Scarlet David?"

"He has, as a matter of fact," Weiss nodded. "They were on a fighting team together in college- why do you-"

"Because I've been living with Scarlet for a few years now," Yang smiled. "Not married- not yet- but we're definitely a lot closer than most people in the business."

"Oh, right! I _loved_ you two in Outsiders!" Nora piped up. She then shrunk as she realized she'd brought attention to herself. "But... I haven't married anyone yet, no. Haven't met the right man, I guess..." Another non-subtle glance.

"So, what about you, Jauney?" Yang asked. "Manage to woo anyone since we last met up?"

"Well... there is a woman..." Jaune spoke slowly, oblivious to the fire this sentence seemed to ignite across the table from him.

Pyrrha bit her lip, emotions running around inside her as she forced herself to ask, "And... who might that be?"

"Her name's Emerald- Emerald Sustrai. She's a great woman- she's helped me become what I am now. Our position's more like Yang's and Scarlet's, though. She wants to get married, but I wasn't sure I was ready... anyways, we had a bit of a falling-out before I left. Mostly on me, of course- I was a little abrupt with her when I explained what was going on."

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed- it might be her imagination, but something in Jaune's voice said that his relationship with this Emerald woman wasn't as happy as he was making it out to be.

Before she could explain anything further, Weiss spoke up. "Now, that's something I'm wondering myself- what exactly _is_ going on?"

Everyone turned to her, confusion in their eyes. She met them evenly. "Don't tell me I'm the only one- it's great to see you all again, it really is, but I can barely remember why we're getting back together in the first place. I remember the promise, but... but what was it all about, again?"

Yang closed her eyes before glancing over at Ren. "You want to take over from here, Renny?"

Ren nodded slowly. "Well... I suppose it's time."

He stood up at the head of the table, turning to make sure the door behind them was firmly shut, then turned back to them. "Ladies and gentleman... the murders have started again."

"Murders?" Weiss asked, that gnawing fear at the back of her mind returning in full force.

"It's her, isn't it?" Pyrrha asked softly, biting a lip. "It's Neo."

Ren nodded grimly. "I wasn't sure until recently, but now I am- there's no one else it could be."

"And who's _Neo_?" Weiss asked frustratedly. "None of this is making any _sense!_ "

She glanced around the table, but she seemed to be alone in this sentiment.

"I don't remember much," Nora admitted, "but I don't think I could forget Neo if I tried."

Ren sat down again, lowering his face into his hands. "I've suspected it for a long time now- it was only recently that my fears were confirmed. I've held off on calling you because I knew this would bring up some bad memories. I didn't want to do that to you unless I was a hundred percent certain. If there was the slightest doubt, I held off.

"A couple days ago, a man by the name of Roman Torchwick was found dead in the Haven River- his body was mutilated. That was enough to raise my alarms already, but then we had something we didn't have for any of the other cases- a witness. He was half-insane when we found him, but his testimony told me everything I needed to know. He described the killer- a woman with long hair of pink and brown, with mismatched eyes, who offered him an ice cream cone when she saw him."

He looked around, gauging everyone's reactions. General fear- though in addition to this, Yang had curled her hands into fists.

"It's not something that should have happened," Ren admitted, lowering his head again. "I should have acted right away, right from the first body."

"Who was it?" Pyrrha asked gently.

Ren sighed. "My father died about ten years after you all left, so I sold our farm to a new family- the Pines. A brother and sister, his wife, and their newborn son. Last year, mid-September, he was found dead in their backyard- half his body eaten away. Little Oscar Pine, only fifteen years old."

Yang's eyes were starting to flicker.

"If I'd acted then, there are plenty of others who might still be alive- Roman Torchwick, Max Jones, Dolph Houston, Nicolette Maxwell, Nolan Porfirio, Tukson Ellis..."

"Holy Dust... how many have there been?" Pyrrha asked, horrified.

"Eleven at last count," Ren admitted heavily. Throwing a glance in Yang's direction, he added, "I have reason to suspect a twelfth."

Weiss spoke up. "How have I not heard of this? A serial killer in a town like this, focusing mainly on children? How hasn't news like this gone worldwide by now?"

"A question I ask myself," Ren assured her. "If it were only a few deaths, you could say the police are keeping it quiet until they find the culprit, but by the time you get to five or six, things start getting impossible to keep under wraps. Even two or three is pushing it. And yet the most I've heard of it is a passing mention in the occasional news story- and Vale is never the centerpiece. I've come to the conclusion that the reason the news is spreading is... because she doesn't want it to."

"Not she," Yang spoke up, fire in her eyes. " _N-not she. It._ "

Ren paused, then nodded. "Not she," he agreed. "It."

Another long pause. "I almost made the calls when Reese Chloris was found dead- right outside the House on Vickery Lane, but-"

*GASP!*

Everyone spun in a panic to see Weiss's eyes wide as she shoved her hand into her purse and began rooting desperately around in it, her face turning red as she very audibly ceased to breathe properly. Finally, she pulled out an inhaler and took several quick pulls on it. Finally, she lowered it, struggling to return her breathing to normal. In response to everyone's panicking, she waved them aside.

"No... no... it's okay... I just... I think I just remembered who Neo is..."

When she'd heard the name of the House, it had come rushing back- the image of the dying faunus cursing her and her family, even as it grinned wickedly in its approach.

"I'm fine," she insisted again. "Really. You were saying, Ren?"

Ren raised an eyebrow, but ultimately continued. "I... I was going to make the calls after her body was found, but even then, I could brush it aside as coincidence. We could have saved so many if it weren't for my cowardice. Please forgive me."

He bowed his head towards them.

Pyrrha reached out and gently touched his head. "There's nothing to forgive," she promised. "You had to be sure, and as soon as you were, you called us immediately."

"I don't think I could have done any better," Jaune nodded in agreement.

"As you describe it, I believe you took the most logical course of action," Weiss put in her two lien.

Ren looked up to see Yang and Nora nodding along with the others, and smiled. "Thank you all."

He coughed slightly, then straightened himself up. "So, with that... now we need to decide what we're going to do now."

"Huh?" Nora asked- Ren could practically _see_ the question marks appearing in her eyes.

"Are we going to fight it again?" Ren clarified. "Like I said, I'm not certain Blake is going to show up this time, and without her, I'm not so certain we can take it on the way we did twenty-seven years ago. Besides that, we have to take into consideration its nature- a creature that rises every twenty-seven years, stalks around its territory searching for prey, then returns to sleep. Is it worth risking our lives to fight such a creature?"

"You make it sound like it's just a wild animal," Jaune noticed. "Do you... do you not think it's evil?"

Ren tilted his head. "From our perspective, it certainly is. It kills people- mostly children- and feeds on them. From my memories, it seems to not only recognize what it's doing, but actively enjoys it. It's hard to say what this thing thinks from its point of view, but by any human standard of morality, I would certainly go as far as to call it evil."

"I d-don't _care_ if it's e-e-evil or not!" Yang burst out, pounding the table with a fist. "I-instinct or n-no, that thing k-killed Ruby- I d-don't know about you, but _I_ want it d-d-dead!"

She looked around at the wide eyes around her.

"Your stammer... I forgot about your stammer..." Weiss spoke up.

Yang sighed. "I had, t-too," she admitted. "It only st-started coming b-back when Ren c-called me. It's b-been g-going off and on s-s-since then."

A long silence fell, before finally, Ren spoke up. "Look... twenty-seven years ago, we all made a promise to come back to Vale if Neo did. You've all done that, and I don't feel I can ask any more of you. If any of you want to turn your back on this town for good, I don't think any of us would blame you. If you want to go free, now is the time to do so."

At long last, he looked across the table at Yang. "So, Yang... you were always our leader. Want to ask the question?"

Yang blinked as she recognized Ren standing down- all this time, he had seen himself merely as a steward, a caretaker of the throne at the head of Team Loser- and now that the rightful leader had returned, he was relinquishing it.

She rose to her feet. "So, Team Loser," she began, looking from one face to the next, "All in favor of taking the fight back to Neo, raise your hand."

She immediately raised her own, to nobody's surprise. "I've changed my mind," she declared. "I don't just want it dead- I want to rip out its _heart._ "

A ringing silence fell, finally broken by Ren raising his own hand. "Honestly, even if you all left, I'd still have gone after her myself," he admitted. "This is all I've been waiting for these twenty-seven years. But if any of you want to leave- again, I think Yang and I will gladly hold your oath fulfilled."

Yang nodded, and looked nervously around at the others.

Though she was shaking violently, Nora was the next to raise her hand. "Who's scared? Not me- I'm sure not scared! _You're_ scared!" she was babbling, but she raised her hand anyways. "Child-eating monster that hunted us as kids? What's there to be scared of?"

Pyrrha was next. "I... I cannot abide a creature like this," she almost whispered. "I just can't..."

Jaune raised his hand. "If Pyrrha's in, then so am I," he said grimly.

Finally, all attention fell on Weiss, whiter now than ever before. Yang leaned over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Your choice, Ice Queen. If you want to duck out, now's the time."

Weiss opened her mouth, and for a moment, Yang dreaded what was going to come out of it. A frantic denial, before she burst from her seat and ran for the door?

What she said was almost inaudible- she more mouthed it than actually said it- but to Yang, it looked very much like the word was _Ruby._ She didn't say anything more, but simply raised her hand into the air.

They all jumped as the door opened, revealing Newman. "Is everyone finished?"

Ren glanced at the table- every single person had cleaned their plate. "I believe we are, Kim."

"Would anyone like dessert?"

"Anything but ice cream!" Nora piped up, and the tension that seemed to be hanging over the table broke as a light chuckle went around.

"Only the best for my friends, Kim," Ren smiled at her. "Bring us a volcano, would you?"

"Right away, Mr. Ren," Newman smiled as she bowed out of the door.

"Volcanoes aren't what I think of when I think eastern," Jaune mused out loud.

"This place is a bit of a hodge-podge," Ren shrugged. "Like many things, I suppose." With that, he looked across the table. "Something bothering you, Yang?"

Yang looked up at him, suddenly aware of the brooding she'd been doing since their vote. "I... I was w-w-wondering... _d-did_ we beat it last time?"

"Of _course_ we beat it last time!" Nora interjected, though she didn't sound so certain herself. "What brought _that_ up?"

"Well... the thing is..." Yang closed her eyes. "I... I b-bumped into N-Neo earlier today."

There was an immediate uproar. "What happened?"

"Are you okay?"

"Did she get anybody else?"

"No, no, everything's fine," Yang waved aside. "Sh-she tried to g-g-grab me, but... for some r-reason, she couldn't."

Silence fell. "I... I m-mentioned us b-b-beating it before, b-but it l-laughed and said w-we just f-found it before it w-went to s-s-sleep, and..." She trailed off.

Ren nodded slowly. "I get it." He looked back up at her. "Well, rest assured, Yang. I am certain we defeated her last time."

"How?"

Ren tilted his head. "This may be difficult to explain, but try and follow me, okay?

"Here's what we know so far- every twenty-seven years, give or take a few months, this creature- this _thing-_ re-emerges and feeds on the people of Vale. Eventually, it goes to sleep, disappears, and the cycle repeats. But I've done some more digging since you all left, and found something else out.

"It seems this creature doesn't just go to sleep- it goes out with a bang. Every time you find one of these murder streaks in Vale's history, it always ends with a climax. Over eighty years ago, there was the massacre on the old fairgrounds- and as much as I'd like to say it was mostly due to the police getting trigger-happy, most of my sources say it was actually the normal people of Vale that ran the circus out that year, killing most of the people involved, including the ringmaster.

"Before that was the explosion at the Ellis Hotel- right at the end of a string of murders, with no more afterwards. The murder streak right before the one we witnessed? Came to a close with the fire at the Menagerie Grill and Bar, of which there were very few survivors.

"Enter the year we got involved- a string of murders that seemed entirely primed to end in another climactic bang, only to simply... fizzle out. Why was there no great disaster at the end? I can only come to one conclusion- because we stopped it- we brought its reign to an end before it could go out in its customary fashion."

Ren leaned forward again, resting his chin on his steepled hands. "In fact, that may answer another question that's been nagging at me- this string of murders is... different from before. Before, it's always been disappearances that were only accepted as murders later on. It's been so much... sloppier this time around- leaving bodies behind, half-eaten, allowing itself to be witnessed- but if you look at it from that perspective, it makes a certain amount of sense. It's hungry after being cut off from its normal food supply- like stealing half of an animal's food before it hibernates for the winter. It's so desperate to feed that it's not taking its usual precautions, leaving itself more exposed..."

Weiss cleared her throat. "Well, even in that case... what do we do now?"

"Hm?"

"I mean, I agree that we have to do something about it," Weiss elaborated, "but where do we even start? I mean, I can't even remember how we stopped it last time! I can hardly remember anything at all!"

"I thought that might be a problem, yes," Ren agreed. "You all expressed such sentiments over the phone- you all have hardly any intact memories. I seem to remember the most, and there are parts even I've forgotten."

"Care to fill us in?" Jaune asked.

"Eventually, yes," Ren nodded. "I suspect I will. But not quite yet- there's still quite a bit to cover, and I'm not sure how much is safe to reveal right now..."

"What do y-you _mean,_ s-safe?" Yang asked, narrowing her eyes. "D-do you not t-trust us? _Us?"_

"It's not a matter of trust," Ren shook his head. "If I could tell you everything right now, I would, but like I said, even I don't remember everything, and even _I_ hardly believe some of the things that happened that summer." He sounded almost pleading as he looked Yang in the eyes. "I'm sorry that I can't tell you everything at once, but trust _me_ when I say that when the time comes, I'll tell you everything I know."

Yang still didn't look happy about it, but returned to her chair nonetheless.

"Thank you," Ren said sincerely. "Now... Yang... you say Neo tried to grab you, but couldn't. What happened?"

"She reached out for me, but I pulled out my cross, and she pulled away," Yang recalled, producing said cross as she spoke.

Ren smiled. "Of course," he whispered. "In that case, I think I know what we can do next."

"Well, don't keep us waiting! Tell us! Tell us!" Nora chanted.

Ren smiled at her. "The first step is to start recovering your memories. When we finish dessert and head out, let's each go to a place that we remember from our time here, and see if it brings back any memories."

"You want us to split up?" Jaune asked, eyes widening. "That seems... like a terrible idea."

"I wouldn't have recommended it normally," Ren agreed, "but then Yang told her story, and now I'm sure that we'll be okay."

"Why? What about it-" Weiss started, but Ren raised his hand.

"It proves a theory I've had for a while now," he explained. "When we leave, I want you all to go back to your hotels and find something that comforts you- something you can't help but feel better when you hold. When you're going out to your old haunts, keep it with you, and if Neo appears, use it. If I'm right, she'll be repelled, just like with Yang and her cross."

"So, what, this thing's a vampire?" Nora asked. "Should I bring holy water?"

"It's not about the cross," Ren shook his head. "Unless... is it just a normal cross, Yang?"

"No," Yang shook her head. "I g-g-got it from my Uncle Q-Qrow, right before he p-passed. He s-swore he'd always p-protect me if I w-wore it."

Ren nodded. "It's about the comfort. If it weren't from your Uncle, it would just be a cross. Your faith in it makes it a talisman."

"I don't understand," Pyrrha piped up, looking at him in confusion.

"Nor do I," Weiss agreed. "It seems rather far-fetched..."

"I know," Ren nodded. "But I'm certain. Keep it with you, and it will protect you from it- no matter what."

Another silence. He spoke again. "Way back then, it always felt like something was guiding us- leading us towards just the right events to draw us together and help us fight Neo. I think that whatever it is, it might just still be with us. Once you have your talisman- whatever it is- just follow your instincts, just like you did that summer- let it lead you wherever it will, and hopefully, your memories will start to return."

He stopped as the door swung open behind him, revealing Newman with a large platter in her hand, atop which stood a large mountain of fudge and chocolate syrup. "Volcano!" she happily announced, lighting a sparkler stuck into the top, allowing sparks to fly around as she placed it in the table's center.

As she bowed out once more, Ren smiled. "Well, enough of that- let's dig in, shall we?"

"Don't mind if I do," Pyrrha nodded. "Say, Nora, want to see my semblance in action?"

"Do I?!" Nora beamed at her.

Everyone smiled as Pyrrha reached out, tapping the large knife laying next to the platter before pulling back. The next second, a dark aura seemed to surround the knife as it raised into the air and moved towards their large brownie-syrup dessert.

At the last second, an ominous feeling overcame Yang, and she almost called out for Pyrrha to stop, but it was already too late. The knife began to cut into the fudge, and immediately, an excruciating scream echoed through the room, prompting them all to clap their hands to their ears. Pyrrha lost control of the knife, causing it to clatter to the table next to the brownies- except they were no longer brownies. What sat in the middle of the table was a writhing, pulsating mass of flesh, eyes and indescribably appendages jutting out of it all around the circumference. The chocolate syrup that had been pouring from the top had turned to blood, and as they watched, the appendages began grasping onto the tablecloth, seemingly struggling to move.

Weiss let out a shrill scream, only for Yang to clap a hand over her mouth. "Keep calm!" she ordered, fighting not to stutter. "K-keep calm..."

She looked up as footsteps outside rapidly approached. "Everyone sit down, act natural."

The door burst open, and Newman appeared, looking somewhat panicky. "Is everything okay? I heard a scream!"

Yang forced a smile, struggling to ignore the thing crawling across the table. "Oh... W-Weissy over here had an a-a-asthma attack... she's good n-now..."

Weiss nodded, struggling to act natural, keep her eyes on the thing, and pull on her inhaler, all at once. "I... I'm fine, thanks."

Nora was white-faced, and speaking more loudly than was strictly necessary, but her words were somewhat normal. "So, Pyrrha, how are you feeling about your odds in the championship next month?"

Pyrrha didn't look much better, but managed to keep her voice steady as she responded. "Well, Vacuo certainly has some worthy fighters of their own, but I'll go into it with all my strength, of course... Ms. Newman? Do you mind if we pay at the desk?"

"Of course," Newman nodded. "I'll meet you up there."

She turned and left. All of Team Loser immediately leapt to their feet, wasting no time in grabbing the edges of the table cloth and covering the thing on the table with it before turning and leaving the lounge behind.

As they left, they could swear they heard a dark laughing behind them, mixed in with a single sentence, repeated over and over again.

 _Die if you try... die if you try... DIE IF YOU TRY..._

 _XXXX_

Long chapter is long. Hopefully this twenty-one page behemoth wasn't too info-dumpy for you, but to let me know, please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, flames also embraced, but not as much, Gamer4 out.

PS: As readers with eyes probably noticed, we now have a table of contents for this story. Why I did this, even I'm not sure, but I guess there will be previews of chapter titles that have yet to be there, so if you want a little flash-forward, feel free to tune in to that- I'll update it as new chapter titles come to mind. I would have had it up earlier, but I didn't want to send people alerts without an actual chapter, so it'll be going up alongside this one. This time for real, Gamer4 out.


	24. Weiss Schnee Remembers a Friend (A)

Gamer4 in. So, other worlds... well, may as well start out with the runner-up behind RWBY, the one that almost made it- Persona. Very few series had a set of characters that fit into the story of It so well as Persona, to the point of several (Yu Narukami and Nanako Dojima as Bill and George Denbrough, Yosuke Hanamura as Richie Tozier, and Yukiko Amagi as Eddie Kaspbrak, for instance,) almost being no-brainers. Additional characters from the child timeline could easily be taken from Persona 3, while those from the adult timeline could be taken from 5. However, there were some other more questionable roles. Most notably, Pennywise- very few villains fit the exact mix of evil and whimsy that Pennywise represents. It almost seems like Persona 4's Teddie could be a good match, but that raises lots of questions of its own. Additionally, the other party members of Persona 4, funnily enough, don't slip into their roles quite as well as several RWBY characters did- all without mentioning further developments later in the story. In the end, despite several perfect matches, Persona simply didn't have quite as many matches as RWBY did, resulting in what you see before you. Alright, enough rambling- we have a chapter to get to.

Disclaimer: We can't just cling to childish things as evil grows through conflict!

Chapter XXIII

Weiss Schnee Remembers a Friend

Team Loser didn't stick around long after paying for their meal- they immediately left the restaurant behind, only daring to turn and continue their discussion after the building was out of sight.

"It's N-N-Neo," Yang immediately stated the obvious. "She's a-at it a-again."

" _That_ was Neo?" Nora asked, eyes still darting around the street corner they had congregated on. "I remember her looking like a woman!"

"Sometimes," Ren shook his head solemnly. "That seems to be her favorite form, but it's far from the only one it takes."

"I remember..." Weiss spoke slowly, determinedly looking away from the others. "I remember... a sick faunus..."

"The weeping angel," Pyrrha agreed, shuddering.

"Blake saw it as a dog," Ren recalled.

"And _w-we_ saw it t-turn into the S-S-Salem Witch," Yang pointed out, meeting Nora's eyes. " _That's_ wh-what it d-d-does- it s-sees what scares you and t-turns into it."

A looming silence fell. Finally, Jaune asked, "So... are we still splitting up?"

"I think we should," Ren nodded. "It's powerful, but it's not without its weaknesses- remember Yang's story. Also, if I recall correctly, Blake was able to make it back off in a similar way."

"R-right," Yang nodded. "Everyone head back to their h-hotels and p-pick up something to p-protect yourselves. F-from there, do what Ren s-suggested- follow your instincts. We _have_ to r-remember what happened b-back then."

"If I may suggest something," Ren stepped up. "I know I said we should listen to our instincts- I still believe that's what guided us together all those years ago- but I would also like to dissuade you all from approaching the Emerald Forest or the House on Vickery Lane."

"Why's that?" Pyrrha asked. "I understand the House-" ("You couldn't _pay_ me to go there alone," Nora added under her breath,) "-but most of our memories were in the Forest."

"Because- if I'm right- that's where It expects us to go," Ren explained. "I wouldn't doubt that It's set something up there for us- It knows our history with that place as well as we do."

"Right," Yang nodded. "All agreed? We avoid the F-Forest and the House on V-Vickory Lane."

"Aye," the others agreed.

Yang continued. "If you s-see N-N-Neo- if you see _It- don't fight it._ G-get out of there as f-fast as you c-can- _don't try to fight it alone._ Understand?"

"You make it sound like fighting it alone is a fun idea at all," Nora smiled, prompting some light laughter from the others.

"You hardly need to convince me," Weiss agreed.

"Not for all the lien in the world," Jaune nodded.

Yang turned to Ren. "Wh-where should we m-meet up afterwards?"

"I'll close the library early tonight," Ren suggested. "It usually closes at nine, but I think I can bump that up to seven if I say there's a situation. Whenever you're ready, just come to the library, and we'll talk."

"Right," Yang nodded. "That's the p-plan. G-get something to p-protect yourself, take a w-walk, t-try to r-remember something, then head to the l-library."

A general agreement went through the group, and slowly, they began to split up. Pyrrha and Nora in one direction, Weiss and Jaune in each of their own, leaving Yang and Ren alone together again. "S-so, where are _you_ g-going?" Yang asked.

"I have some business to take care of back home," Ren explained, "then I'll head to the library. _Someone's_ got to tell them we're closing early tonight."

Yang nodded, turning around as she watched her friends leave. "After all this time... we all slipped back into our roles so easily..."

"I suppose things change as much as they stay the same," Ren nodded, smiling lightly.

Yang turned back to him. "When we m-meet back up, I'll want s-some real answers."

"And you'll have them," Ren nodded. "Hopefully, I will, too."

And with that cryptic remark, the two departed.

XXXX

As Weiss made her way down the street, she raised her arm and gazed at the bracelet there- a small, childishly-made object, threaded with a small plastic sapphire in the shape of a teardrop.

"Weiss, Weiss! Look! I made us friendship bracelets!"

For a moment, she heard the voice as clear as if someone were standing right beside her, but she didn't look- she knew it was entirely a fabrication of her own mind.

Ruby... a name she hadn't thought of in so long, yet had once meant so much to her. It was only natural, she thought, that Yang had received most of the attention when Ruby disappeared- they had been sisters, after all- but very few people seemed to realize just how close _she_ had been to the girl in red.

At first, she'd been almost jealous of the younger girl and the freedom she seemed to have- even her semblance was the ability to cross great distances in small amounts of time. In the early days, just after meeting Yang, she'd held something of a grudge for the two, representing as they did everything she simply didn't have.

Eventually, the tension between them had resulted in a full-blown argument- not quite to the scale that she would later have with Blake, but still full of harsh words that only caused Weiss to cringe now.

"But- but Weiss! What did I _do?_ "

"That's just _it!_ You've done _nothing_ to earn their praise!"

What had Weiss been responding to? She'd already half-forgotten by the time Ruby vanished, and after all these years, she was left with only conjecture. If she had to guess, perhaps Ruby had been boasting about her grades one day- likely to her sister- only for Weiss to scoff at anything less than perfection- after all, such was how she was raised in her own home. Anything less than 100% was frowned upon at the Schnee household, likely causing her past self to hold others up to those standards as well.

But was that it? She didn't think so- more than expectation, she _envied_ Ruby- envied her for a family that would take pride even in her sub-par grades, that would look at even a B or- Dust Forbid- a B-minus and congratulate her for it.

The next day, Yang had taken her aside. "What is your _problem_ with my sister?"

Weiss had faltered in her search for an answer- or so she recalled. "She- she's a hazard to my health!"

"She's just trying to do her best- what's wrong with that?"

"Because her best isn't good enough! What's she going to do when she starts failing? Just run away from all her problems with that semblance of hers that doesn't even _work?!_ "

Yang had paused, her eyes switching from red back to blue. "Weiss..." Her voice had become suddenly gentle. "Are you sure _you're_ not the one who wants to run away?"

Weiss wasn't sure how the rest of the conversation had gone- she was certain, though, that that single question had left her well and truly speechless.

She paused in her memories, glancing up at the building in front of her.

 _Sieben Pharmaceuticals._

Sieben... Sieben! The man who had once done the most to break her free of her father's control. Perhaps she shouldn't be surprised, then, that her feet had carried her here. It seemed ridiculous, of course, to think that the man- aging even when she'd left Vale- would even still be alive, let alone at the head of the store, but then, there was nothing she stood to lose from entering either.

Walking through the store was quite a trip- so much was identical to what she remembered, but so much had changed as well. Electronic signs dotted the ends of the aisles, constantly shifting to advertise new products. Behind the counter at the front end of the store, the analog clock had been replaced with a large digital, numbers smoothly melting into new ones every minute, with room to also identify the date, month, and year, and day of the week.

Weiss's eyes were drawn to the man standing behind the counter- tall, lanky, and a full head of brown hair. Definitely not the old proprietor.

Nevertheless, she moved up to the counter, passing numerous bottles bearing her name or likeness upon them. Finally, she stood in front of the counter, where the man turned to her, revealing a set of light brown eyes. "Hello, my name's Encel Lazuli, welcome to Sieben Pha- Schnee?" His eyes widened as he recognized the woman standing before him. " _Weiss_ Schnee?"

"Hello," Weiss greeted, bowing her head slightly, mentally sighing. What part of her hadn't expected this?

 _The part,_ she couldn't help but think, _that links Vale to childhood._

"What- what brings you out here?"

"I'm visiting a friend," she answered almost automatically. "I... I lived out here for a while in my youth. I used... I used to know the owner of this store- Mr. Klein Sieben?"

She braced herself, waiting to be told that he had passed away, or moved away, or-

"Grandpa!"

She froze- the man behind the counter had turned and was beckoning to somebody else. A moment passed before he headed just out of sight before returning with an incredibly old man in a wheelchair. "You never told me you knew Weiss Schnee!" he was muttering under his breath.

Weiss's own breath hitched when she spied the man. His hair had vanished altogether, with the exception of a few wisps on his upper lip, and his skin seemed to sag over his bones, more lines and spots than anything else, but deep down, she knew exactly who this was. "Mr. Sieben!" she gasped, kneeling down in front of him. "It's... it's me! Weiss Schnee, you remember me, right?"

Klein was mumbling something under his breath, something she couldn't quite hear. Leaning in as close as she could, she heard... "Licorice whips, peppermints, a few comics, bedrest, a few aspirin, dancing, fire, coffee, ice cream..."

She closed her eyes before looking up at the other man- Encel. "Is he..."

"Yeah," Encel nodded gravely. "What can I say? He's pushing his nineties by now."

Weiss turned, almost desperate now, for reasons she didn't fully understand herself, and whispered, "But Mr. Sieben- Klein- it's me! Weiss Schnee! Twenty-seven years ago, you told me- you pulled me aside, and you told me..."

"... Toothpaste, makeup, cherry, lemon, lime, ice, fish, leaves, pages, books..."

Weiss faltered as no spark of recognition appeared in his eyes. Her heart sank slightly- here was something she simply couldn't help. Despite all the leaps and bounds Remnant had made in medical science, the effects of time were the one thing they couldn't cure.

"Sorry to bother you," she almost whispered to Encel as she stood to leave.

She froze in place when she heard Klein's next words- "People Like Grapes."

She slowly turned, hardly daring to believe it. "What- what did you just say?"

"Water..." Klein muttered, momentarily causing Weiss's heart to sink further- "-and People Like Grapes. That's all it is... just water and People Like Grapes. Hate to say... hate to tell you..."

"You do remember!" Weiss's heart leaped, and she knelt down again. "You remember me- Weiss! Weiss Schnee! The Powerade, it's... it's..."

She came down from her momentary high when Klein's eyes, which had locked onto her for a brief moment, lowered again and focused on the floor in front of her. "Oranges and lemons... bells, music, klavier... klavier..."

Encel sighed. "There he goes again. Klavier was my father- his son."

Weiss stood again, returning her gaze to Encel, who looked somewhat apologetic. "He's been like that for a few years now... he'll have a moment of lucidity, then he's back to just muttering whatever comes to mind."

"I... I see," Weiss nodded, lowering her eyes to the ground.

"You must have meant something to him, though," Encel added, a slight smile on his face. "It's not just anybody he'll go lucid for- he usually only does it for his family. He must have had a high opinion of you."

Weiss didn't know if it was true, or if he was only saying it to make her feel better, but either way, she obliged him with a return smile. "Thank you," she whispered. "I'll... I should be going."

"Of course," Encel nodded. "I'm sure a woman of your stature has plenty to do. Thanks for stopping by."

With that, he bowed her out of the small shop.

XXXX

Weiss continued her walk down the street. Despite her experience, there was still quite some time left until their meeting, and she didn't feel quite as though she'd accomplished anything yet- a feeling that had been all too common when she'd originally lived in Vale.

After Yang had chewed her out, Weiss had reflected on her words and actions, slowly coming to the conclusion that she was right- it was she who wanted to run away, not Ruby. She despised being trapped in her gilded cage where her father continuously diagnosed her with so many ailments it was a miracle that she didn't die, while also expecting her to rise above them to be the perfect student, the perfect heiress, and the perfect daughter. Ruby, she realized, wasn't running away from anything at all- she was always running _towards_ something- a beautiful horizon she alone could see through her silver eyes, always out of reach, though that didn't stop her from endlessly pursuing it.

A teardrop matching the shape of her bracelet traced its way down her eye as she found her way to a large park containing a jungle gym, swingset, and a few sports fields. It was a cloudy day, and there was hardly anyone around. She took a seat on a bench, folding her hands beneath her chin in thought.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that Ruby had been the first death of that year. Of course, Weiss would never wish death upon anyone, but why did the first one to be taken have to be one so young, full of life and potential?

After her revelation, Weiss had gone out of her way in attempts to make things up with the younger girl, not realizing until much later that as far as she was concerned, there was nothing to forgive in the first place. A light chuckle left her- Ruby, in fact, had sought to apologize to _her-_ the one who had started the argument in the first place!

At last, they had forgiven each other, and for a while, had served as the oddest friendship in Team Loser. Where she'd once been repelled, Weiss found herself drawn to the younger girl in a way she didn't fully understand- she had a special charm of her own that seemed to draw in everyone around her.

Then came that fateful September. Weiss would be lying if she said she hadn't been secretly looking forward to attending Beacon alongside Ruby, so when the first day came and she was nowhere to be seen, she had been concerned. The concern had risen when she saw the look on Yang's face, and reached a peak when she heard Yang begin to stutter.

Throughout that year, she had mourned alongside Yang. Of course Blake and Nora had mourned their friend as well, but neither had been quite as close, Weiss felt, as herself and Yang. She would have happily traded all her wealth away for a chance to see the girl one last time. For a long while, she'd joined Yang in her hunts for her sister, morale boosted by her insistence that she _must_ be out there somewhere, only for hope to steadily drain away as the months went by and they found no leads whatsoever.

And then... that summer...

She shook her head. She could only remember to a certain point in that summer before she hit a wall. Just what _had_ happened? She found her left hand clenching and unclenching around the scar embedded into it- a thought that segued into running that same hand along the scar over her eye- the one she couldn't explain.

"Weiss..."

Weiss snapped her head up, glancing back and forth. "What- who..."

She finally locked her eyes on a figure standing behind the jungle gym, just out of sight- but very clearly wearing a long red cloak. "Weiss..." a youthful female voice cooed out. "How could you forget me...?"

Weiss leapt to her feet and began to move back. "No... this isn't real... you're not real!"

The figure moved out from behind the slides, the cloak's hood keeping her face in shadow. "No... please, Weiss, don't turn your back on me... everyone else already has..."

Weiss began to tear up again as she began to shout, "You're dead, Ruby! I hate it, but you're dead!"

"Because you didn't help me!" the figure shouted back, reaching up to lower the hood. "Weiss... why didn't you help me?!"

Weiss recoiled as the hood fell away. Ruby's silver eyes had sick rings around them oozing puss. Her mouth was covered in sores, her flesh was absorbed in boils and pustules, and she was moving with a distinct limp.

"I... I became a doctor to help people," Weiss struggled to say. "To do my best... to make sure no one else had to..."

"You abandoned me!" Ruby shrieked. "Now look at me, Weiss! LOOK AT ME!"

"No..." Weiss shook her head rapidly. "No! You're not her! You aren't Ruby!"

She closed her eyes, backing away as swiftly as she dared, until she felt a gentle hand caressing her arm.

"Weiss... Weiss, are you okay?"

Her eyes snapped open- was that _Neptune?_ She looked up- and immediately leapt backward again. It _was_ him- but older. Far, far older. His hair had grown and turned entirely to white. His eyes were spiderwebbed with cataracts, likely rendering him blind, and to even move, he was relying heavily on a cane.

Weiss raised her arm, the plastic sapphire bouncing against her wrist. "Stay back," she ordered, the fierceness in her voice at odds with the dread in her eyes.

"Weiss... I wish I could see you again..." 'Neptune' rasped as he staggered forward. "Everything went so wrong... after your trip to Vale... I couldn't live without you... I just want to see you... one last time..."

"I said stay back!" Weiss shouted again, and this time, 'Neptune' paused, tilting his head, staring at the bracelet as though he could see it even through his obvious blindness.

"If that's how you feel..." he rasped, steadily staggering backwards. "Then I'll go... I'm so sorry, Weiss... sorry I couldn't meet your expectations... sorry I couldn't live without you..."

Weiss closed her eyes, struggling to force back tears, before opening them again.

She was alone in the park.

She turned and took off again, making certain that she was well and truly alone in a much more private spot before she finally gave in and began to cry.

 _XXXX_

The next few chapters are liable to be shorter than usual- hope that doesn't bother anyone too much. The table of contents has been updated to include some new chapter titles you can expect to see in the future- though, in accordance with the disclaimer I've added to it, those titles and the order of the chapters are all subject to change. Happy Thanksgiving, to those who celebrate it, and I, personally, would be very thankful if you were to please R&R, constructive criticism and flames embraced, though not necessarily in equal measure, Gamer4 out.


	25. Pyrrha Nikos Borrows a Book (A)

Gamer4 in. Let's see, more worlds... well, believe it or not, one of the earliest contenders was Fire Emblem Awakening. Lucina as Bill, Morgan as Georgie, and the challenge of adapting the story to a more medieval setting- well, maybe that challenge was a bit much. Despite another few characters sliding right in- Owain as Richie and Laurent as Mike come to mind- the main problem came from the villains. It's difficult to find the right words to explain _why,_ but there were no villains from Awakening that really fit the proper criteria for characters like Pennywise or Henry Bowers. Any options are either too sympathetic or- oddly enough- not sympathetic enough. I suppose it's still an interesting idea to think about, but in the end, RWBY still won out. If you're cool with that, then let's continue!

Disclaimer: Humanity's in jeopardy, the fight is far from over!

Chapter XXIV

Pyrrha Nikos Borrows a Book

In truth, Pyrrha had more than one reason for asking about Ren's reluctance to approach the Emerald Forest. One, of course, was her stated reason- most of Team Loser's memories _were_ tied to that location.

In addition to that, however, she had already paid the forest a visit that very morning.

Like Yang, she'd awoken in a hotel on the outskirts of Vale, and like her, she had called a taxi for a ride into the main township. In point of fact, she had gotten a ride in the same cab and with the same driver that would later pick up Yang.

"Alright, where you headin', boss?" he asked as she took a seat in the back, doing her best not to be recognized.

"Central Vale- I'm going to A Simple Wok," she replied.

"Simple Wok, huh? Nice place- I went there with a friend of mine not that long ago, you know, and..."

Again, just like Yang would later, Pyrrha leaned back and tuned out the man's continuing banter as the taxi began to move, taking off through the town.

Compared to Yang, who had gone directly through the city's more urban areas, Pyrrha was treated to a ride around the edges, receiving a lovely view of the lush greenery that poked at her memories from so long ago. It incited a flood of nostalgia- she could almost imagine her younger, portlier self walking along under the sun, some books in her arms, her red hair bobbing along behind her...

She finally gave in as the vehicle traversed over a very familiar bridge- the bridge running over Team Loser's once favorite spot at the banks of Haven River. She abruptly spoke up. "Could you- could you pull over real quick?"

The driver quirked a brow, but gave a shrug, a nod, and steered to the side of the road, bringing the car to a halt. Pyrrha jumped out and approached the bridge's railing. It had definitely changed- it had once been a very simple wooden bridge, not fit for more than children on foot or on bikes. It was now built from solid concrete, simple boards replaced by steel beams. But down below, the course of the river was unchanged, carrying on, trickling and weaving through the trees.

She felt like something was calling out to her. Slowly, she turned and walked around to the cab driver's door. "Ready to get going again, boss?"

"No... actually, I think I'll get off here," she smiled.

The young man blinked. "Are... are you sure?" He glanced around. "I mean... there's nothing really out here."

"I'm quite sure, yes," Pyrrha nodded, reaching into her bag and foraging for her wallet. "I can find the rest of the way myself."

"If- if you say so..."

Finally, she produced her wallet. "How much do I owe you?"

The young man turned away for a second, then turned back. "For that short trip? Ten lien."

"How much would it have been if you'd taken me all the way?"

The man's ears turned red. "Oh, you don't have to-"

Pyrrha cut him off by waving her hand. "How much?"

The young man hesitated. "I guess... twenty?"

Pyrrha produced twenty-five and handed it over.

"Um... thanks?" The man looked extremely confused by now.

"Thank you," Pyrrha nodded one last time, before turning and climbing down the hillside. Behind her, she could hear the taxi starting up again and taking off.

She walked slowly along the river-side, the sense of nostalgia becoming overwhelming as she approached what she thought might well be the exact spot Weiss had collapsed during their first meeting. Yes... it was starting to come back to her. She'd approached Yang and Weiss, and proceeded to comfort the girl in white as the girl in yellow took off on her bike to the nearest drugstore.

She knelt down, and for a moment, she thought she could actually hear voices echoing through time- her conversation with Weiss, eventually joined by Yang...

And then, over it all came the voices of Team CRDL chasing her through the woods.

"You're dead, Piggah! You're fucking DEAD!"

"Get back here, FREAK!"

She leapt to her feet- that last had not been part of her memories- it had been very real. She spun around and saw several kids running along the riverbed. For the briefest moment, she saw a tall but incredibly rotund girl with long red hair puffing desperately as she struggled to outrun an even taller boy with red hair slicked into a pompadour.

Then she blinked, and the scene changed. The child running away was a young boy wearing thick glasses beneath messy black hair. He was short and rather lanky. The leader of the boys behind him was taller, more thickset, with a better-kept mop of blond.

Pyrrha kept her eyes on them all as they ran by- allowing the black-haired boy past before stepping in front of the others, her arms crossed.

"And what do you think _you're_ doing?"

"What's it to _you,_ lady?" the blond-haired boy sneered.

One of his friends turned white upon seeing her, however, and prodded him on the shoulder. "Careful, Hunter- don't you know who this _is?_ "

"Pyrrha Nikos!" another of his lackeys gasped.

Pyrrha nodded, throwing them her best glare. "Go home to your parents," she ordered with all the authority she could muster. "I'm sure you have better things to be doing than chasing other people around like this."

The bullies took a couple staggering steps back, before finally turning and taking off in the opposite direction. Pyrrha ensured that they were gone before steadily lowering her arms.

"Ms... Ms. Nikos?" came a timid voice from behind her. She turned and smiled down at the boy she'd just saved, currently staring up at her in awe.

"You... you really _are_ her!" he stammered out. "I... you're on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!"

Pyrrha laughed lightly. "Yeah, that was pretty cool- though the cereal isn't that good for you."

The boy looked down, tracing a path on the ground with his heel. "Thanks for... for baling me out..."

"It's nothing," Pyrrha smiled. "Believe it or not, I had some bully problems myself when I was your age."

"You?" the boy asked, aghast.

"Oh, yes," Pyrrha nodded. "The best thing you can do is learn from it- grow, and learn to fight back."

"That's what my Dad says," the boy shrugged, gazing at the ground. "But..."

"But nothing," Pyrrha cut him off. "Just keep picking yourself up, and maybe one day, _you'll_ be the one on the front of cereal boxes."

The boy looked back up at her, still seeming like he could hardly believe his luck. "My friends will never believe me..."

Pyrrha smiled before reaching into a pocket and producing a small red handkerchief embroidered with her initials. "Take this," she whispered. "Wipe yourself off with it, then keep it."

The boy gazed down at the handkerchief as though it were made of solid gold. "Th-thank you!"

Pyrrha nodded one last time. "Stay safe," she whispered. "Don't talk to strangers, and if you have friends, don't go out without them."

"Whatever you say!" the boy nodded rapidly, before turning and continuing his run up the hill, fear replaced by excitement.

Pyrrha smiled as she watched him go, before turning deeper into the forest- there was still something calling out to her.

XXXX

It was a cold November day, but that did nothing to diminish the beauty of the forest as she continued along paths and through clearings dappled by the few trees that still retained their leaves, cycling through oranges and reds, some trees verging on a deep purple or indigo.

Even she wasn't certain what she was looking for, but deep in her heart, she felt like this was the right way to go. It felt as though something was guiding her, leading her in this direction- a quick detour before she headed to the restaurant.

Abruptly, the ground beneath her began to bend. She took a step backwards, fixing her gaze on the forest floor.

"What?..." she wondered aloud. She knelt down and pressed a hand against the ground where her foot had just been. Sure enough, there was a surprising amount of give for the frozen forest soil.

She began brushing aside dirt, fallen leaves, and twigs- there was something underneath it all. A series of wooden planks, seemingly falling apart from the ravages of time. She was lucky her foot hadn't gone straight through it.

Reaching out, she pressed her fingers into the cracks between the planks and lifted them up one by one, easily moving them out of the way, revealing a dark space beneath, roughly seven feet squar in area and six feet deep. Turning, she slowly lowered herself in.

Gazing around, she felt another strong wave of nostalgia- this place was important to her, though for the life of her, she couldn't remember why. The walls consisted of more boards, likely put up to keep the surrounding soil at bay, while the floor was littered with more leaves, twigs, and rocks.

Those rocks... Pyrrha knelt down again, examining the center of the pit, where a series of stones had been arranged into a ring. In the middle of the ring was a small pile of ash and old coal from a fire that had long since gone out, though if Pyrrha reached into her imagination, she could almost see a few wisps curling up into the air.

"Something happened here..." she found herself whispering. "Something... I can't remember..."

She continued scanning the ground, searching for clues. A slight glint in the corner of her eye caught her attention, drawing her over to the corner of the pit. Kneeling down, she rustled through some of the debris before finding the source- a small glass figurine of a tower.

"A... chess piece?" she wondered aloud, rasing it up to eye level. Sure enough, it was very clearly a rook from what seemed to be a glass chess set.

For some reason, her heart warmed when she looked at it, and she found herself now more than ever struggling to remember something that she simply couldn't. Nonetheless, she found herself pressing the piece to her chest.

Eventually, she remembered she had a lunch to get to. Turning, she placed the rook on the edge of the pit before hoisting herself out after it. Picking it up again, she turned and began making her way back through the forest, tilting her head as she examined her prize.

XXXX

As Team Loser separated after their lunch, Pyrrha found herself removing the chess piece from her pocket again. Nora, walking alongside her, caught sight of it out of the corner of her eye. "Ohhh, what's that?"

"Oh, this?" Pyrrha asked, turning slightly red. "This... well, it's my talisman."

"Oh, you already had one?" Nora tilted her head slightly. "Are you remembering something I'm not?"

"No, nothing like that," Pyrrha shook her head. "The truth is, I went out to the Emerald Forest before I came to the restaurant."

A nervous look crossed Nora's face. "Did you... you know... see anything?"

"No," Pyrrha shook her head. "If I did, I'd have told you."

"Of course," Nora nodded, seeming satisfied. "Go on."

"Well... I found a large pit out there, covered up by wood- and this was in it."

Nora tilted her head in confusion. "Who'd dig a pit out in the middle of the Emerald Forest?"

Pyrrha glanced back at the piece. "I think... I think maybe we did."

"Huh?"

"Never mind," Pyrrha shook her head again. "The point is, for some reason, when I hold this, I feel safer. Like... like all of you are standing with me."

Pyrrha met Nora's eyes, half-expecting ridicule, but seeing only slight confusion. "Well... whatever floats your boat!" Nora turned on her heel, making a sharp curve to the left. "I guess this is where we split up, then- my hotel is that way. See you at the library!"

"Of course," Pyrrha nodded with a smile. "See you then..."

Her voice trailed off as she examined the intersection, wondering where to go from here. The Emerald Forest was out, so besides that, where did she have the most memories?

The answer, she thought, was silly for a number of reasons- partly because of the location itself, and partly because it was already the place they'd agreed to meet up anyways.

XXXX

The warmth of the library quickly got to work dissipating the late autumn chill the moment Pyrrha entered. Looking around, she was glad to see that very little had changed here. The library seemed larger- a spiral staircase at the other end of the building climbed its way up to a balcony that ran around its upper portion, providing extra room for more shelves and a reading area- but aside from that, it was exactly the same building she'd frequented before meeting Team Loser.

She moved across the library to the central desk. The librarian standing behind looked up at her and, like clockwork, widened her eye. "Are... are you..."

"Yes, thank you, yes I am." Pyrrha spoke softly, but quickly, gesturing for the librarian to keep quiet. "If we could avoid raising attention, I'd appreciate it."

"Of... of course," the librarian- a tall man wearing a pair of glasses nodded. "How... how can I help you, Ms. Nikos?"

Pyrrha threw a glance around. "I... er, I'd like to apply for a library card."

"You'd like a library card... for this place?"

Pyrrha nodded earnestly. "You see... I spent a year here in my youth. I thought it might be nice to stop by and relive some old memories."

"I see..." The man glanced under the desk, then reached down and produced a box full of plastic cards. Next, he reached into a drawer and brought out a small sheet of paper. "Just fill this out and pick your card, and you're good to go!"

Pyrrha nodded, picked up the pen attached to the desk, and filled out the form in less than a minute before sliding it back to the librarian. Next, she reached into the box and chose the most basic card she could find.

"Thank you," the librarian smiled, inclining his head in a somewhat informal bow. "I'll take care of the paperwork- you should be registered into our system by the time you find anything to check out."

"Thank you very much," Pyrrha nodded, before turning to the shelves behind her and beginning to browse.

As she did, she cast her mind back, struggling to remember anything that might help. If Ren was right, the location should be helping her, but she still felt like she'd remembered more in that pit than she was remembering here.

Eventually, her finger crossed over one title in particular- _Fire and Ice._ The title triggered something in her- some distant memory. _Fire..._ for such a common word, it was suddenly sending chills down her spine. _Fire..._ that was important. Something to do with fire?

Had they fought It with fire? No, that wasn't right- they'd fought it with silver-

She paused again. She didn't know where that thought had come from, but as instinctively as she'd felt it was the right thing to make a detour through the Emerald Forest, she knew that it was true- somehow, in some way, silver had been key to Its defeat during their last battle.

 _Fire... silver..._ she was getting closer to something, she could feel it...

"There she is! The one who's killing the children! Quick, grab her!"

Pyrrha spun around, unwittingly dragging one of the books from the shelf with her.

Up on the balcony, leaning over it with a sadistic grin, was Neo. One arm was carrying her parasol, the other was pointing directly at her.

"You sick murderer, you," she continued in a teasing voice. She looked from side to side briefly, then back to Pyrrha. "Well, if no one else is going to grab you, I suppose I'll have to do it myself!" With that, she leapt onto the banister, crouching like some primitive beast.

Instinctively, Pyrrha produced the chess piece, holding it up in front of her. "Stop!" she practically ordered, in a voice carrying far more power than she felt. "Stay up there!"

"Ssshhhhh!" one of the other patrons hissed, glaring over at her. Pyrrha faltered, but kept her eyes on Neo.

Neo paused, her gaze fixed on the piece, before slowly lowering her legs back to the second floor. Nevertheless, she smiled. "Killing children _and_ talking in libraries? You're just writing your way into my heart, aren't you?" She leaned over, twisting her body into a somewhat seductive pose. "Why don't you come up and kiss me, Piggah?"

Pyrrha didn't speak- she simply shook her head, taking a few steps backward.

"Oh, you won't?" Neo asked, putting on an incredibly hurt expression. "I bet you'd do it for Jauney!"

This was followed by a mad cackling. Pyrrha clenched tighter to her rook.

Finally, Neo met her eyes again. "I'm gonna lay it all out for you, Pyrrha- there's no way you can win this fight. This is your last chance- leave Vale by tonight, or you and all your friends are going to die. My little warning to you- get out or die. Your choice."

"We're not leaving," Pyrrha quietly muttered. "Not this time- not until you're dead."

"Until I'm-" Neo cut herself off with a storm of laughter- laughter that elicited from Pyrrha much the same reaction it had received from Yang. "You really think you can kill _me?!_ You are _adorable!"_

Finally, she brought herself under control. She focused on Pyrrha. "I can understand not wanting to leave your friends, so do me a favor, would you? Go back to them and tell them what I've told you- you can't win. Tell them I'm the last member of a dying race, and that I'm here to enslave all your women, rape all your men, and consume all your ice cream!"

Pyrrha shook her head, struggling to meet Neo's gaze with a stern one of her own.

Neo gave another chuckle. "Maybe you need some more convincing. Maybe you'd like to see what James Ironwood saw before he died, hmm? You want to see? You _really_ want to see?"

Neo was beginning to change, prompting Pyrrha to look away- whatever she had to show, Pyrrha had no interest in witnessing. However, even as she looked away, she felt an insatiable urge to turn back- until slowly, she found herself facing her aggressor.

Neo's face had been mutilated by horrible burns and scars- her face had become a twisted mass of flesh through which her heterochromic eyes peered. A similarly burned fedora had appeared on her head, while her coat and shirt had been traded for a red-and-black striped sweater. Her arms extended for several feet to either side as she grinned down.

Pyrrha's blood ran cold, but Neo wasn't done yet. Her arms began to shrink to a more normal size, and with the hand that had formerly held the parasol, she began to lift the sweater, revealing a horrifically scarred torso- including a particularly nasty wound just beneath her heart. On her other hand, a set of knives appeared- not through a glove, as with the character she was imitating, but directly on her fingers. Moving slowly and deliberately, she pressed one of the knives into her chest until it drew blood, then began to pull it across her chest.

Far more blood leaked out of her wound than should have been possible- vast globules that fell down and splattered all over the library, on tables, books, and people- people who did not react to the deluge in any way.

Finally, she paused, continuing to smirk down at her quarry. "Like I said, Pyrrha, you're a woman after my own heart... so take it!"

With this, she shoved the hand with the knives into the wound, screeching as if in pain, and a moment later, wrenched it back out, carrying a repulsive, pulsating organ, laughing at the look of horror on Pyrrha's face.

"Stop it..." she found herself whispering. "Stop it..."

"Is something wrong, Ms. Nikos?"

Pyrrha jumped, turning to see the librarian she'd spoken to earlier standing there, looking rather concerned. She looked quickly around- just as suddenly as she'd appeared, Neo had vanished, along with all the blood she'd spilled.

"You- you were over here muttering to yourself," the librarian explained, glancing around furtively. "Do you... need any help?"

"I'm... I'm fine," Pyrrha assured him- unconvincingly. "I just wanted to... er..."

"Oh, did you find a book you wanted to check out?" the man asked, glancing at the book she'd pulled from the shelf. "I can take care of that for you real quick, if you want."

Pyrrha found herself nodding mutely, allowing the man to drag her over to the desk, where he quickly scanned the book and handed it over to her. She thanked him, before making swift tracks out of the library- she could find something else to do until it was time to go back and meet up with her friends.

It was only when she was halfway back to her hotel that she thought to examine the book in her arms. A chill ran down her spine as she recognized the title, and once again, she sensed fate guiding her down some path that she had no way of seeing.

 _An Anthology of Romantic Poetry._

 _XXXX_

A little bloodier than normal- hope that doesn't put anyone off. To let me know, please R&R, constructive criticism and flames embraced, albeit not in equal measure, Gamer4 out.


	26. Jaune Arc Returns Home (A)

Gamer4 in. I do have one more big series I was considering, but I think I'll save that for next chapter and instead throw out that, at one point, I was considering Senran Kagura. I throw it in as an afterthought, not because of the series itself, but because of my own perspective- it was less a serious consideration, and more of a 'Wouldn't it be funny if' thing. Alright, let's get to it.

Disclaimer: Now it's time to say goodbye to the things we loved, and the innocence of youth!

Chapter XXV

Jaune Arc Returns Home

As it transpired, Jaune Arc did not immediately go to the airport after his falling-out with Emerald. Instead, he made his way to the house of another friend of his, Sage Ayana- a tall man with dark skin and similarly dark-green hair. He had been planning on taking the first plane to Vale that was available, only to remember, partway down the road, that Emerald was the one in charge of most of their finances. Not to say that he had nothing to his name without her, but probably not enough to hop on a flight at such short notice.

In college, Sage had joined a fighting team alongside his friends at the time, Sun Wukong, Scarlet David, and Neptune Vasilias, but this aptitude proved to not be destiny. Nowadays, he mostly made a name for himself as a commentator on various issues, from psychology to sociology to politics, upon which he had some opinions many would dub 'controversial.' Nevertheless, he kept on expressing them, continuing even in the face of intense criticism, or even the occasional outright banning.

His friendship with Jaune was an odd one- the two hadn't met until several years out of college when they met at a bar in the heart of Vacuo. Jaune was temporarily retreating from Emerald, who had just taught him another one of her 'lessons,' and had been drinking alone when Sage appeared and offered to buy him a drink.

"Thanks, but no," Jaune had responded. "I don't want to cause any trouble..."

Sage had sat right next to him, gazing into his blue eyes with his own- a bright shade of gold. "No trouble," he shook his head. "I can tell when someone needs a drink, buddy, and you..."

Jaune smiled weakly before finally nodding. "If you're sure..."

They had remained silent until their drinks arrived, at which point Sage finally took the initiative to begin a conversation. "So, what brings you out here tonight?"

"A little trouble in paradise, I guess you could say," Jaune shrugged over a hard soda.

"A married man, huh?" Sage guessed as he took a swig of ale.

"Not married- not yet," Jaune denied. "Though you'd think we were, sometimes."

Sage had fixed him with a penetrating gaze- a gaze that was oddly familiar. It was only now, back in Vale, that Jaune realized why- it was uncannily similar to the gaze that Ren fixed others with when they were trying to hide something. "Was that her?" he asked lowly, indicating the large, dark bruise forming around Jaune's eye- he hadn't wanted to dive right into it, but that bruise was what had drawn him to Jaune in the first place.

"She's a little... high-spirited, sometimes," Jaune shied away.

"I see," Sage frowned.

Jaune tilted his head. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Sage Ayana," Sage had immediately responded- on the one hand, he wasn't sure what rumors Jaune might have heard about him, but on the other, he firmly believed that honesty was the best policy. "Here's hoping that doesn't put you off."

He extended his hand, and with a wan smile, Jaune accepted it. "Should it?"

"Well, people like to say things about me- I wasn't sure what your first impressions might be."

Jaune shook his head. "I don't rely on rumors- I like to judge people for myself."

Sage smiled. "Smart man. Personally, I believe that's an issue plaguing us today..."

That had been the start of a lengthy conversation. By the end of it, Jaune was thoroughly drunk despite the relatively low amount of liquor he'd consumed, while Sage came to realize two things.

First, this man stood opposite him on just about every issue he could think of.

Second, in the small amount of time they'd spent talking, he was already coming to care for him.

"Come on, buddy," he muttered, patting Jaune on the back. "Let's get you home, shall we?"

"Yeah...I... I think Em should be calm by now..." Jaune slurred slightly.

"Yeah, about this 'Em,'" Sage nodded, hoisting Jaune over his shoulder. "Maybe you ought to stay away from her for a while, okay?"

"Nah," Jaune waved him aside. "She's... she's good... just a little... free-spirited, is all..."

Sage narrowed his eyes again, but from his previous experience, saw little point in pressing the issue. Throughout their conversation, Jaune repeatedly denied that his injury had been caused by this 'Emerald,' and while Sage doubted that proclamation, he didn't have enough evidence to the contrary.

XXXX

That night had been the start of a long, beautiful friendship, one that Sage still valued, always readily accepting Jaune on nights that Emerald got particularly angry, prompting Jaune to leave their house. Repeatedly, Sage tried to convince Jaune that he should turn away from her, and repeatedly, Jaune leapt to her defense. Sage desperately _wanted_ to do something about it, but found himself unable to- without any _proof_ of Emerald's actions, there was very little he could do.

Then came that night in late November when he opened his front door to find a gasping, panting Jaune at his front step. "Jaune?" he asked, bemused. "Is something wrong?"

"You could say that, yeah," Jaune nodded. "Mind if I come in?"

"Of course," Sage nodded, stepping aside and allowing him entrance. "Want some tea?"

"That sounds good," Jaune nodded, taking a seat in the kitchen.

In a moment, Sage had his teapot whistling. He produced some bags and laid a cup down in front of each of them. "So, what brings you here tonight?" His eyes narrowed. "Emerald, again?"

"No, no, not her- not entirely," Jaune shook his head. "She wasn't- she didn't hit me this time-"

Sage's eyes widened, and he jumped on the opening. "'This time?'" he repeated. "Meaning she's done it before?"

Jaune still seemed distracted, eyes darting around even as he addressed Sage's urgent question. "Yes, she's done it before," he admitted. "She didn't get to tonight, though-"

"That's not the point, Jaune!" Sage frowned at him. "If this has been going on a while, you should have told someone- the police, or at least me!"

"Look, Sage, it's not a big deal," Jaune shook his head. "I usually deserved it, and-"

"No one _deserves_ it!" Sage interrupted. "What has that crazy bitch been _telling_ you?"

"This isn't about Emerald!" Jaune raised his voice. Sage blinked, before slowly motioning for Jaune to continue. "This is about... a friend called me tonight. A friend from a long time ago- I need to get to Vale! Do you know-"

"I think I've heard of it," Sage nodded. "Right near the coast of Vytal, right?"

"That's the place," Jaune nodded. "I used to live there a long time ago, and I'm going to- a reunion, I guess you could say. But... I think Emerald will go out of her way to keep me out of our bank accounts, now, and it's pretty far for anything other than a plane..."

"What happened with Emerald?" Sage asked, fixing him with that very Ren-like stare once more. "You're _sure_ she didn't hit you again?"

"No- not for lack of trying, though," Jaune admitted. "She was coming at me with her belt when-"

"She even has a belt?" Sage asked, aghast. "Holy _Dust,_ Jaune, how long has this been going _on_?"

"It's not important!" Jaune repeated, shaking his head. "Again, it was mostly my fault- she thought it was one of the girls we're doing a construction deal with, over in Vacuo, and I didn't do a good job-"

"Even if you _were,_ _beating_ you isn't the answer!" Sage put his foot down.

Jaune shook his head. "I keep saying it's not important- I've already broken things off with her."

Sage sighed with relief at that. "Good. It's about time..."

Jaune gave a half-hearted nod. "Yeah... I guess... but now, she's got control over most of the money. I wouldn't mind too much, but I _really_ need to get to Vale- this is important. I hate to ask, but-"

"I'll cover you," Sage cut him off. He didn't know why he was agreeing so readily- perhaps it was something in Jaune's eyes, or his voice- he sounded more serious about this reunion than he had about anything in the past. "Don't worry, Jaune- if this is as important as you say, I'll cover you."

"It is," Jaune nodded earnestly. "And I'll pay you back- I _promise._ "

"Keep your ties with that bitch cut," Sage assured him, "and I'll consider us more than even."

Jaune remained silent for another moment, before slowly nodding. "Thank you."

Sage smiled. "What are friends for?"

XXXX

Such were the memories racing through Jaune's mind as he turned his back on _A Simple Wok_ and started making his way towards the Vale Residential District. Almost guiltily, he reached into his pocket and produced the talisman he already had with him- a photo of Emerald, smiling gently at the camera. Even after their altercation before he'd left, even after his promise to Sage, he couldn't bring himself to turn his back on her altogether.

Holding the photo closer to his heart, he continued his walk. So, aside from the Emerald Forest, where did he have the most memories? He didn't recall spending much time in the parks, socializing in the stores, watching movies at the theater- he hadn't even spent much time at the arcade, as most others around his age did.

He found his mind drifting towards another place- there _was_ Mountain Glenn. An extension of Vale, it had been ravaged and destroyed during the War for Remnant, and left as a memorial for several years, until the town decided to start rebuilding it. It had still been under construction when he left, but he could stop by there again and see- what?

He paused, blinking. A wave of cold seemed to pass over him at the idea of going anywhere _near_ Mountain Glenn. Had something happened there? He stretched his memory as far as it would go.

 _Chains._

 _Horns._

 _Branches._

And above all- _Thrush._

Thrush? That was right- Team CRDL- something had happened in Mountain Glenn, something involving them. Something involving Russel Thrush- but try as he might, he couldn't remember the details. Nonetheless, he could almost _hear_ the rattling of chains in the distance, and a dark, evil chuckle.

He closed his eyes for a moment, before looking up- and staring.

Practically without his input, his feet had taken him to a building he knew all too well- the very house that he'd grown up in, where the majority of his memories were made, up until the year he was sent away to live with his father instead.

His old house was practically unchanged since then- it seemed no larger than before, and still bore the same basic white paint, though it now seemed older. Nerves coursed through him- could it be that his mother was still living there?

On some level, he didn't want to know- but more prevalently, he _had_ to. Moving slowly, he approached, stepping up onto the front porch before slowly reaching out and knocking.

For a moment, he hoped- almost _prayed-_ that no one would answer.

He almost breathed a sigh of relief when no one did.

 _I worry about you, Jaune, I really do. Just because you_ are _a boy doesn't mean you have to_ look _like one..._

He had to be sure. Feeling as though someone was dragging his hand against his will, he raised his hand and knocked again.

A face appeared in the window- a rather old, female face. After a moment, it disappeared, and a second later, the door creaked open.

"And who might you be, young man?" the woman asked.

Jaune had to stifle another sigh of relief- whoever this woman was, it clearly wasn't his mother. She was far shorter, and far older even than his mother ought to be at this point. Her long white hair was kept in a braid down her back, and her skin was far darker. What seemed like a pair of goggles was attached to her face, a necklace lay around her neck, and she was leaning heavily on a large cane.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he inclined his head. "I was looking for the Arc residence..."

"I'm afraid there's no one named Arc here," the woman shook her head, turning back inside, only to pause just before closing the door. "Unless... wait... you aren't Jane Arc's boy, are you?"

"You know her?" Jaune asked, unsure whether he was more excited or scared.

"I _knew_ her..." the woman corrected, a note of sadness entering her voice. "...Perhaps you had better come in... I can make you some tea."

Jaune nodded, stepping over the threshold into an all-too-familiar hallway.

"Maria Calavera," the woman introduced herself, smiling briefly up at him.

"Jaune Arc," Jaune reciprocated, bowing lightly.

Maria smiled. "You're every bit as well-mannered as she said."

Looking up, she added, "Feel free to use the water closet, if you like- I'll get the tea on."

Jaune tensed, but ultimately nodded, heading up a brief flight of steps and coming to a stop just in front of the bathroom door.

He didn't know what he expected to be on the other side- a room full of blood, perhaps? Given how this day was going so far, he wouldn't be surprised if he were to open this door and unleash a torrent of blood on the rest of the house, as Neo- as _It-_ cackled away in the bathroom mirror. But he had to know.

It seemed to take several hours before his hand finally touched the knob, and even longer before it finally pushed the door open.

There was nothing of note on the other side- it was the bathroom he remembered, almost precisely as he remembered it- still as clean as he, Pyrrha, Weiss, and Blake had left it on that day so many years ago. Maria clearly kept up with her cleaning- he could even see the wallpaper, which had been replaced with a pattern of owls- he couldn't shake the feeling that they were watching him as he nervously began running the water in the sink. In an effort to calm himself, he splashed some of the cooling liquid back into his face.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Maria called up from the lower floor. "I always have some food ready in case my grandkids decide to visit!"

"No thank you!" Jaune called back. "I'm going to meet with some friends soon!"

"A snack, then? I think I have some ice cream in the freezer!"

Jaune found himself wincing at the mention of the frozen treat- looking into the mirror, he could even see himself turning pale. "Just- just tea, thank you!"

"Suit yourself..."

Finally, Jaune turned his back on the room, descending into the kitchen, where Maria was just removing the teapot from the stove.

"Any preference, dear?" she asked, turning and browsing through her cabinets. "I've got green tea, earl grey, a few different herbal teas..."

"Earl grey sounds fine," Jaune smiled, taking a seat.

Maria nodded, and produced two teabags for each of their mugs. She sat across from him, before shaking her head. "Well, I'm sure you've already worked it out, my boy, but your mother... she's been dead these past five years."

Jaune wasn't sure _how_ to react to this news- true to Maria's assessment, he'd already mostly worked it out by now, and of course, he'd had to entertain that possibility...

But at the same time, even after twenty-seven years of separation, the revelation seemed to hit him like a train.

Perhaps reading some of the emotion on his face, Maria shook her head sadly. "I hate to have to be the one to tell you that, son..."

"No, it's okay," Jaune shook his head slowly. "I kind of... I think I kind of knew already."

Maria smiled slightly. "If it's any comfort to you, she always spoke very highly of you- I can only imagine how much she loved you."

Jaune felt something in his throat.

"There was that thing she always used to say- 'I hated to see him go, you know. I worry about him, I really do. I worry a _lot._ '"

Jaune tensed up again, gripping his mug tighter than was strictly necessary. "Did she?"

Maria nodded, taking a sip of her tea. "Won't you drink?" she prompted.

Jaune looked at his tea, and realized he hadn't actually drunk any yet. "In a bit," he muttered, for reasons unbeknownst even to himself. He looked back up. "So... you knew her?"

"I talked with her quite a few times," Maria nodded. "I suppose I was the closest to her when she finally passed- she left me her house, at the very least. I know it seems small, but it's quite the palace compared to where I lived before."

Maria took another drink before turning her gaze back on him. "Is that what brings you back to Vale? Searching for your mother?"

"Sort of," Jaune half-lied. "Really, I'm meeting up with my friends again. We have something to take care of here."

"It must be important to come all the way here from Atlas," Maria pointed out. "Are you getting into trouble, my boy?"

For some reason, Jaune found himself wincing again. Setting down the cup he'd just picked up, he thought for a moment before responding, "It's just... something between us. We'll take care of it okay."

Maria gave a shrug. "Whatever you say, my boy," she smiled, showing off a set of rather dark teeth.

Jaune blinked, then kept his eyes fixed on his host- had her teeth always been in such poor shape?

"It just seems to me," she continued, "that if it's too much trouble- particularly anything _life-threatening..._ you might be better off simply returning home, my dear." She fixed him with an unflinching gaze through her large goggles. "We wouldn't want you getting _hurt_ now, would we?"

Jaune kept his gaze fixed on her- he couldn't say why, exactly, but he was steadily finding himself repulsed by this seemingly innocent old woman.

She tilted her head again. "Well, come now, drink!"

Jaune kept his eyes on her even as he reached for his cup, pausing only to flick his eyes down towards it- only to drop it in horror.

The tea had been replaced with a mix of red and brown sludge, from which a horrifically pungent aroma emanated and assaulted his senses.

The cup fell and shattered on the floor.

Maria smiled back up at him- she was growing older and older before his eyes, to the point that she began to resemble a living mummy. "Don't you worry about a thing, my dear, I'll take care of it."

She rose to her feet, and so did Jaune, leaping to his feet and pushing the table away, right into Maria, knocking her to the ground and knocking her goggles from her face.

"That wasn't very nice, dearie," she almost whispered, turning around and causing Jaune to recoil once more. She had no eyes- where they ought to be were two dark holes piercing through into her skull. As she steadily rose to her feet, managing to do so without removing her dead gaze from him, she smiled and spoke again- but from her mouth came, not the kindly, elderly voice he had come to expect, but the voice of his mother- "Just because you _are_ a boy doesn't mean you need to _act_ like one!"

Jaune fumbled around in his pocket, finally producing the picture of Emerald- but Maria did not stop her advance. She reached out and snatched the photo from him, laughing as she examined it.

"How sweet," she seemed to reflect, turning the picture over in her hands. She raised a finger and pressed it into the paper, leaving a burn mark as thorough as if her finger were a cigarette. She moved her finger to another spot and burned another hole, before looking back up at him. "Something tells me you don't have quite as much faith in your dearest as you'd like your friends to think..."

She turned the photo around- she had burned out Emerald's eyes, leaving them looking as dead and empty as her own.

The photo began to speak- "Do I need to teach you a lesson, Jaune?"

Jaune turned and ran- right on his heels was the thing Maria Calavera had become, crying out with the voices of both his mother and Emerald- "It won't do you any good to run, Jaune! Come back and take it now- it'll be easier for you if you do!"

Jaune wasted no time in breaking down the front door and barreling out onto the street before finally turning around to finally see what he had already realized to be true- Neo stood in the doorway, cackling, a wicked glee alight in her multicolored eyes. Finally, she stopped, fixing his gaze steadily with her own. Slowly, she raised the central three fingers of her right hand. Just as slowly, she lowered her ring finger. A moment passed, then she lowered her index finger as well.

Jaune came to the realization just in time- working more on instinct than anything else, his legs propelled him backwards a split second before the space he'd occupied was invaded by a large truck. As he slammed into the pavement on the opposite side of the street, the thought registered with him that the horn had been blaring, but he'd been so fixated on Neo that he hadn't noticed.

Looking up, he felt his heart drop- where his house had once been, there now stood a ruin. The paint was gone, the windows were smashed, all entrances were boarded up, and overall, the house was a shell of its former self, more akin to the House on Vickery Lane than the house he remembered growing up in.

A deep horror took root inside him as he staggered away. _We can't beat her- she's too powerful, we can' t beat her, with or without Blake! We can't do it, WE CAN'T BEAT HER!_

One of his roving hands slipped on a piece of paper- looking down, he saw a small postcard with a very familiar picture on it. Touching it, he recognized it as the same picture on the postcard he'd received shortly before meeting the rest of Team Loser for the first time.

On the reverse side, however, was no love poem- instead, there were four scrawled words in neat, immaculate cursive.

 _Now you're catching on._

 _XXXX_

Please R&R, constructive criticism and flames both embraced, though not in equal measure, Gamer4 out.


	27. Nora Valkyrie Meets a Friend (A)

Gamer4 in. Okay, final world I considered for this story- otherwise, I'd be going on about it for the rest of this story's runtime. That world is, as none of you probably knew, Fairy Tail, which, love it or hate it, that's fine, is among my favorite shows- up there with RWBY itself. Despite that, however, it's probably the version of this story that traveled the least- there were very few characters that really clicked with it as well as they did with the other options. Natsu, for instance, seems like an obvious Bill-figure, especially alongside a Wendy-Georgie, but his personality is far more Richie-ish. Gray could fill that sort of big-brother role, but he didn't seem to really fit either. Lucy is more or less the main character, but she fits much better as Eddie, and all that was just for one character. A nice idea, but in the end, futile. Hey, maybe someone else will attempt it sometime- _I'd_ read it. Anyways, enough might-have-beens, let's dive back in.

Disclaimer: With this doubt in our minds, why we chose this life, as we can't help wondering-

Chapter XXVI

Nora Valkyrie Meets a Friend

Nora bit her lip nervously as she watched Pyrrha hesitate for a moment at the intersection before choosing a direction and heading off. Her nerves were momentarily offset by a chuckle when she noticed the redhead making her way back towards the library. Looking back, she _did_ recall Pyrrha spending an inordinate amount of time there over anywhere else- except the Emerald Forest, of course.

As Pyrrha disappeared from view, Nora returned her attention to her own destination- unbeknownst to her, she was the only member of Team Loser actually returning to her hotel before setting out on her constitutional.

As she walked, she reached into a pocket and tightly gripped an object laying inside it. It wasn't a talisman she was returning to her hotel for- she'd carried this with her for almost the entire time she'd spent outside of Vale, never going anywhere without it.

Pulling it out, she closely examined a small, smooth stone, in an almost perfectly oval shape. It was mostly covered in pink paint, except for a design on the front- a hammer surrounded by a circle, complete with a lightning bolt down the center.

Like many other things, she'd forgotten its true origin over her time outside of Vale, remembering only that it was of immense importance to her, bringing her comfort whenever she saw it. In even the hardest of times, she need merely glance at this simple rock to feel that everything would be okay. And now that she was back, she was finally starting to remember why.

It was always Ren, wasn't it? Her memories were still hazy, but somehow she knew- it always seemed to come back to him. Despite being the last person to join Team Loser, he'd somehow managed to stand out to her the most- more than Blake, or Pyrrha, or even Yang. Any doubts in her mind were erased at the warm feeling in her chest when she saw he still retained that pink streak in his hair- a pink streak, if she recalled correctly, that she'd placed there to begin with.

Despite remembering so little of her time with him, she remembered one thing- she trusted him more than anyone else. Even watching Pyrrha walk off, misgivings still in her heart about splitting up, she was certain there was a good reason for it. After all, it had been Ren's idea. The stone he'd painted and given to her many years ago was the perfect talisman for her- not only was it a reminder of him, but he'd said it would work, and therefore, it would.

Nevertheless, with the first place that popped into her mind to visit, she wanted a little... extra protection, hence the detour to her hotel. She hadn't fully remembered Neo until she'd actually crossed the border into Vale, but the sense of dread surrounding the town had been enough to prompt her to bring a weapon along with her.

All the more if she was really going to traverse the old fairgrounds.

XXXX

Nora wasn't certain why the old fairgrounds seemed to be calling to her- she'd only ever been to them once or twice. Among her memories, she recalled Blake mentioning an encounter with Neo on that cursed ground, which seemed to only reinforce the idea that she ought to stay away- and yet here she was, drawing closer with one hand on her talisman, and the other wrapped around the handle of a large hammer she'd had for several years now. Despite serving as a prop in a few of her shows, it was very real, and offered her a little extra comfort as she approached the old, rusty gates.

 _This is what Ren said to do, right?_ she reasoned to herself. _Follow our instincts- well, I don't know why, but my instincts are telling me to go in._

She approached a gap in the steel fencing- the exact gate, whether she knew it or not, that Blake had accidentally knocked over in her own bid for freedom twenty-eight years earlier. Moving gingerly, hammer and stone at the ready, she stepped over the threshold.

Against all common sense, the temperature seemed to drop several degrees once she entered the fairgrounds. She could sense it- she was on Neo's territory now. _It's not_ too _bad,_ she continued to reason frantically. _I'm not here to fight her- if I see her, I'll just run!_

For the first time since her entrance into Vale, all was silent. Even the previous night in the hotel, the passing by of traffic had ensured things were never too quiet- yet now, it was as though she were treading through a graveyard. There wasn't a single individual in sight beneath the steely grey sky, and more than once, she though she saw the flaps of tents moving despite the absolute stillness of the air.

Even she wasn't certain what she was looking for- aside, of course, from any sign that It was present. A tell-tale sign of pink or brown would have more than likely been enough to send her running, but so far, she seemed truly alone. Every step seemed to echo like a cannon blast, even when walking upon dirt. Her eyes were wide, nostrils flared, ears perked, all her senses waiting to detect anything out of the ordinary, upon which they would immediately send a signal to her brain to bolt from the area as fast as her legs would carry her.

Eventually, her legs carried her to one tent in particular- a large, yellow big top. Nerves screaming at her, she steadily approached, reaching out a hand and lifting the flap.

It was empty, with the exception of three items. In the very center of the vast space was a small wooden chair. Hanging over it, all the way from the ceiling arching above, was a great length of rope, reaching down to six or seven feet over the chair, where it was tied into the shape of a noose.

And lying on top of the chair was a necklace.

Nora approached, still primed to turn and sprint if anything happened. Slowly, she reached out the hand with the stone and managed to loop the chain of the necklace around her fingers, lifting it up from the chair. Not eager to remain in this place any longer than necessary, she immediately retreated into the relative comfort of the outside grounds.

She put as much distance between herself and the tent as possible before taking a seat on a stone bench to examine her find. The chain of the necklace was made of thin silver, and hanging from it was a small disc. She immediately recognized the symbol on the front- it was an image Ren had shown her, long ago- a symbol of harmony between light and darkness, he had said- of Yin and Yang. Nora had laughed then, casting her eyes immediately over to where Yang had stood, eyes already alight with the opportunity for puns.

She didn't feel like laughing now.

Steadily, she turned the disc over, and heard her own sharp intake of breath upon seeing the other side.

It was a simple metal- nothing so rare as silver, she'd imagine, the way the necklace was. What truly drew her attention was the single word written there, scrawled in a small but elegant script- _Useless._

Without understanding why, she knew this was what she'd come here to find- there was no more reason for her to stay. She returned to her feet and continued towards the exit, wondering about the relevance of the necklace- what did it mean? Whose was it, and why was it all the way out here?

As she walked, she took another glance at the disc, and stopped dead. The words had been written in what appeared to be sharpie- very recently. Whoever had left this- and she thought she had a very good idea who it was- they were very likely still near.

The moment the thought crossed her mind, she _swore_ she heard a light, cackling laugh from the shadows of the closest tent. She broke into a sprint, tucking the necklace away in her pocket before lifting up the stone in front of her. Whether it was truly the case, or just her imagination, the path she'd taken into the fairgrounds suddenly seemed much longer than when she'd entered- the ground seemed to be stretching out beneath her feet, or perhaps pushing her backwards with every step, like a treadmill.

It was with a heavy sigh of relief that she eventually found the gate she'd entered through- she immediately leapt over the bars of the fallen portal and took off, this time oblivious to the rise in temperature as she began making her way back to the main township.

XXXX

It was with great relief that Nora began to hear the buzz of Vale again. This time, she was making her way through the commercial district, which had expanded by leaps and bounds since last she'd seen it. More stores, more restaurants, more buildings that she couldn't identify if she'd tried, and even familiar buildings seemed larger than before.

 _I_ guess _I could go back to the library now,_ she mused. _But... I don't think I've really_ remembered _anything- definitely nothing important._

It seemed that she had no sooner made the decision to make another visit than she found herself standing in front of a building surprisingly familiar to her- the Vale Museum of Anima.

She froze as she stared up at the immense building, memory suddenly flooding back into her. This building- of course! She didn't particularly care for museums, but this one was special- it was the place she'd first met Ren.

Turning, she thought that, if she tried, she could almost follow her exact footsteps from that day. She headed down the sidewalk- a block or two away, she spotted the ice cream parlor she'd stepped out of back then, a month or two before Ruby's disappearance. The sun had been hot, and she'd found herself in search of something to cool her down. This being before Neo had ruined ice cream for her, the parlor seemed as good a place to cool off as any. She'd entered and left with a triple-scoop ice cream cone of mottled sherbet.

She had been walking down the sidewalk, getting started on her treat, when she spotted Team CRDL approaching from the opposite direction. In a brief moment of panic, she'd ducked into a nearby alley, accidentally dropping her cone as she did. Only a few moments later, she'd heard a yelp, and turned to see Cardin lying flat on the ground, his foot right next to her fallen treat, Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark looking shocked, while Russel Thrush had an odd smirk on his face.

She had been unable to help herself- she'd leapt from behind her hiding spot and burst into laughter. "Well, I _was_ gonna charge you for ruining my ice cream, but if you're gonna clown around with it like that, it's a small price to pay!"

The mockery was out of her mouth before she could stop it- by the time she recognized her brain screaming _Beep Beep, Nora!_ at her, it was too late- Cardin was glaring up at her, and the rest of his team and set their sights on her as well.

"Get her," he growled.

Nora had turned and run for her life, abandoning all thoughts of heat, cold, or frozen treats. She had sprinted along the sidewalk, eventually ducking into the first sizable building she'd found looking capable of protecting her- the Vale Museum of Anima.

As she followed her old path, she found herself at the museum's entrance, a booth out front. Approaching the man inside, she asked, "Admittance isn't free?"

The man turned to her- short, with dark hair on his head and upper lip. "Not this one," he shook his head. "For you... ten lien."

Nora felt a strange sense of loss as she reached into her wallet and produced the requested money. It was odd- she'd only entered this museum once, a long time ago, when admission was free. She could see no reason why this should matter to her- she didn't enjoy museums at the best of times, and found something haunting about them at worst. Nevertheless, just the sense of change in her old hometown was enough to leave her feeling somewhat melancholy as she presented her cards.

The man in the booth nodded. "Alright, you're good to go. Just leave your hammer here, would you?"

Nora nodded, reluctantly handing over her hammer, then walked around the booth and into the building, returning to following her old footsteps.

Yes... it _was_ free back then. No one had challenged her as she dashed across the entrance, nor had anyone thought to challenge the four boys in hot pursuit.

She had dashed past numerous exhibits dedicated to the culture and history of the eastern continent of Anima, paying no attention to any of it. Even when she was reasonably certain she'd lost them, she continued her run- she didn't want to take any chances.

Eventually, however, even she'd tired out, and come to rest on a steel bench amidst a gallery of Anima's art. Panting heavily, she had hardly noticed as a slender boy in green had approached her- until he'd touched her on the shoulder, causing her to jump.

"I'm sorry," the boy apologized immediately, but remaining calm nonetheless. "I didn't mean to scare you, it's just... you're running from Team Curdle, aren't you?"

Nora looked up at the calm boy next to her, immediately noticing his unusually pink eyes. "I... yeah, yeah... I kinda... got on their bad side..."

"Not hard to do, from what I've noticed." The boy shook his head. Looking up, his eyes widened by the slightest of margins. "Hide."

"Huh?"

"Hide- they're coming!"

He had lifted Nora and shoved her through the nearest door, which she would only later realize belonged to the men's restroom.

From the other side, Nora heard Team CRDL descend on the boy.

"Well, well, well, if it ain't the chink," Cardin had begun- Nora could _hear_ the sneer in his voice. "How's it going, Bing-Bong?"

"...I'm visiting a museum," the boy responded simply.

"What, you got no friends to hang out with? Go figure."

The boy remained silent for a moment before responding. "What brings _you_ here, Cardin?"

"We're hunting that spazz from school, Nora Valkyrie," Cardin answered immediately. "Tell us where she is, and maybe I'll tell you something interesting in return."

Nora winced, but the boy's response was perfectly measured. "Nora Valkyrie... can't say I've heard the name before."

"Don't play dumb, Chink," Cardin growled, and Nora thought she heard the boy get pushed to the ground. "Small girl, big mouth, red hair, all pink- you can't miss her. I'll add two years to your lifespan if you tell us where she went."

The boy's voice sounded like it was coming from the floor now. "Haven't seen her..."

"STOP LYING TO ME!" Cardin bellowed, and there was a grunting sound that Nora could only imagine the cause of. "You tell me where she is, or Dust help me..."

"Excuse me, sir," came a new voice. "This is a museum- if you can't keep it down, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

A long silence, and finally, Cardin's voice. "You got lucky today, Chink. But there won't always be someone around to protect you- one of these days, I'm going to get you."

"So I've heard..." The boy's voice signified that he'd returned to his feet.

Cardin snorted. "Come on, boys. This guy's eyes are too narrow to see her anyways."

Another long moment passed, before the boy finally whispered, "They're gone. You can come out now."

Nora did, slowly opening the door to reveal the boy, somehow still looking calm in spite of all that had happened.

Nora's mouth remained open for a moment, before it broke into a beaming smile. "THANKS, Chink!" she yelped, pulling him into a tight hug. "I can't thank you enough- you were so _cool_ out there!"

"Please... stop... choking..." the boy rasped.

"Oops!" Nora blinked, backing off, allowing the boy to catch his breath and rub at his chest. "Sorry... my parents always tell me I'm too strong for my own good... but you _saved_ me, Chink!"

There was a flash in the boy's eyes, but he remained calm as he spoke. "Please... don't call me that."

"Why not?" Nora tilted her head slightly. "Is it an embarrassing name or something? 'Cause if you've got a nickname-"

"No, no, it's not that," the boy shook his head. "It's... a slur. A nasty name for people from Anima."

"Nasty... name?" Nora asked, eyes widening.

"Kind of like calling a faunus a furry," the boy explained. "If you really didn't know, then-"

"Sorry, sorry, _sorry,_ SORRY!" Nora burst out, kneeling down at her savior's feet. "You go to so much trouble to save me, and I just start firing insults at you, and-"

The boy tilted his head, bemused- and slightly amused- by this odd girl. He raised a hand and placed it on her head. "Hey, it's okay- you didn't know. Just... just don't do it again, okay?"

Nora perked her head up. "Really? You forgive me?"

"Not really much to forgive," the boy shrugged- only to find himself snatched into a bear hug.

"Thank you, thank you, _thank you!_ You're such a nice guy- we should go get ice cream together sometime- not _together-_ together, of course, that would be weird, I mean, we just met, and I don't even know your name... wait, what _is_ your real name?"

The boy pulled himself free from her grip again, before smiling slightly at her. "Ren- my name is Lie Ren. And you're Nora Valkyrie, I'm guessing?"

"That's my name!" she grinned.

"Well, as long as you're here, mind if we take a walk around the museum together? My family's from Anima, you see- this is all rather interesting for me."

Nora was on the point of declining when she found herself taken in by that small smile on his face- there was something about it she couldn't say no too. "Sure!" she'd grinned. "Maybe you can tell me a few stories to pass the time?"

Ren had chuckled. "Well, my father's the real story-teller, but maybe I can pull up one or two... want to hear a scary one?" As he asked, he guided her towards one exhibit in particular.

"Hit me!" Nora smirked at the challenge.

Ren gave another light laugh. "Alright, then, the story of the Enigma at Kuroyuri Fault..."

Over the next ten or twenty minutes, he had proceeded to weave a bone-chilling tale of human-shaped holes that called out to certain people, guiding them to enter, only to ensnare them in a dark web from which they could not escape, even as they were horrifically mutilated by powers beyond their comprehension.

His method of storytelling put even Blake Belladonna to shame, sending chills up Nora's spine with every word of description, and bringing it all to a close with an ending that had her teeth chattering for days on end afterward.

They had parted on good terms that day, but events subsequently conspired to keep them apart afterward- by the time she had any free time, she had almost forgotten about the boy who saved her at the museum- at least up until that rock war-

Nora paused. Rock war? _That_ was new- she hadn't remembered that before. But now it was starting to come back- her and her friends on one side of a river, Team CRDL on the other. How it had begun or ended, she couldn't recall, but it was another memory.

She turned away from the art gallery, which had grown along with the building itself over her twenty-eight years away. It baffled her to think of all that had happened since she'd last stood in this room, to her, to Remnant, and to Vale itself, creating a feeling overwhelming enough to convince her to move along.

She wanted to remember more, and, the day being as dismal as it was, she virtually had the whole place to herself. Something else was nagging at the back of her mind- a single word. C? See? Sea? There was a sea not too far away from Vale, situated, as it was, right on top of a peninsula. C? C for coastline- there was _plenty_ of that nearby, but that didn't sound right either. See? Yes, that was what she was trying to do- to see back into the past, to remember things that would, ideally, help her to help Ren...

The answer came to her in a rather unexpected way. She found herself standing in front of a large picture of a dancing woman, dressed all in red, with flowing black hair, a fan in her hand, moving gracefully to an unheard rhythm. Her eyes lowered to a plaque beneath the image, but found no information about the portrait- instead, there was a poem.

 _See the guardian of enormous girth_

 _Within his hands he holds the earth_

 _His work is slow but always kind_

 _He holds us all within his mind_

 _Upon his name all vows are made_

 _He sees us all but cannot aid_

 _He loves the land and loves the sea_

 _And even loves a child like me_

Nora blinked and shook her head violently from side to side. Upon opening her eyes again, the entire scene had changed- the portrait was now of a woman smiling down at a baby in her arms, and the plaque now read, _Sayuri, by Haruhi Kitagawa, 673._

Nora stared, and once more felt a sensation she hadn't felt since first receiving the call- _was_ she going crazy? _Was_ this all just the stress of setting up the special with Flynt Coal and Neon Katt?

She reached for her arm and pinched herself- well, at the very least, she wasn't _dreaming._ Besides, as odd as it was, something seemed... familiar about that poem. She felt like she'd heard it somewhere before, almost like a nursery rhyme in the crib. Something about it... brought her comfort.

She turned and was on the verge of continuing on her way when she spotted another portrait- one that brought her to a halt.

Turning, she saw an eerily realistic painting, one that almost looked like a photograph. Within the confines of the frame was an image of herself, alone in a dark room, dangling in a noose, her neck clearly broken. Her eye sockets were empty, and a smile had been forcefully cut into her cheeks.

Almost against her own will, she moved towards the image and inspected the plaque beneath it. _The Death of Nora Valkyrie, by Neo Politan, 826._

"I hope you like it, Nora..." came a light, haunting voice from behind her. "I worked _so_ hard on it... I even blessed it with my own blood...

Nora spun around to see a twisted crack in the wall that had most certainly _not_ been there before. A sick noise was coming from it, a mix of cracking and scraping as something moved within it.

Nora gulped and raised her stone.

At long last, out of the crack spilled a horrific, twisted monstrosity. It looked as though it had been human once, but not for a great long while. In some ways, it seemed to resemble Neo- Nora recognized a couple different hair colors, and the eyes were as heterochromic as ever, but... they were on top of each other now, not side-by side. Her human form had been twisted, turning noodly, perfectly fitting into the crack from which she'd emerged.

Then, against all laws of biology or physics, she rose to the tangled messes that served as her legs, and began to move towards her.

"It's _your_ hole, Nora... I made it _just for you..._ "

Nora spun around- the painting had disappeared, now replaced with a large hole in the wall. By all rights, it should have gone through into the next room over, but instead, it opened up into pure blackness. But even that wasn't what disturbed Nora the most- what truly unsettled her was the shape.

Taking into account everything from her hair to her clothing, the hole was a perfect match for her.

She turned and raised the stone against her assailant. "Back off!" she ordered. "I ain't letting you get anywhere near me!"

The thing Neo had become paused, what almost looked like frustration crossing her horribly twisted features. "Oh, and after all the trouble I went to... you may not it, but it wants you..."

And suddenly, Nora felt a strong force drawing her towards the hole, as if she was caught in a high wind, or as if the hole emptied into space itself, the natural vacuum acting on her, and her alone.

"No... _no!"_ she shouted, spinning around and shoving her stone in the direction of the hole- bringing the pull to a stop. For a moment, she closed her eyes, and when they opened, the portrait was back- a normal portrait this time, depicting an ancient Emperor of Anima.

Turning back, she saw what _hadn't_ disappeared- Neo was still approaching, still in that mangled state. Nora leapt backwards, stumbling into a wall, and, to her horror, accidentally dropping her rock.

What remained of Neo's mouth forced itself into a smile. "Well, you seem nervous, Nora... why don't you lighten up?"

And out of nowhere, the gallery burst into flames. The paintings began to curl into ashes, the walls carrying the flames far more efficiently than they should. Despite the obvious sprinklers all over the ceilings, none of them went off, and Nora couldn't hear a single alarm as the fire began to spread- and with it came smoke.

Ignoring all common sense, the smoke did not rise- instead, it seemed to be gathering around Nora, causing her eyes to sting and her throat to burn. She began coughing and rubbing desperately at her eyes with one hand, while her other felt desperately around for the rock that served as her only safeguard.

Neo's voice spoke again, seeming to come from everywhere at once. "Just how limited do you think I am? I am eternal- I can blind you just by willing it, or choke you, or force upon you any disease I choose. Any painful death you can imagine, I can make into reality, and you seek to challenge me? _Me?_ "

Nora forced her eyes open, searching for the stone, eventually finding it- on the other side of a wall of flames. And still, Neo continued speaking.

"I can twist your body in ways you can't imagine- I could implant a tumor in any part of your body, or in every part at once. Do you wish to burn alive from the inside? I can make that happen, too. Or perhaps you'd rather your beloved Ren land the killing blow instead? Or that you do it for him?"

A sudden rage filled Nora. "You leave him alone, you bitch!" she screamed.

Neo laughed. "I think... we have a winner." Nora looked up, finally locating her enemy, finally leaving that horrible, twisted state of being- only to enter a form far more terrifying to her. Lie Ren was approaching her, a sadistic grin on his face, brandishing a pair of knives in his hands.

"Sorry, Nora," he chuckled in Neo's voice. "You're just... so annoying!"

Nora found her voice again, and this time, even she didn't fully understand why she said what she did. It was a nonsense phrase, born from nothing- no memory, no context, no feelings of protection- but she found herself yelling it nonetheless.

"THE DANCER KNOWS YOUR REAL NAME!"

'Ren' faltered, a look of confusion crossing his face, as if even It didn't understand why she'd said that. But beyond that, Nora spied something that filled her with hope- the wall separating her from her rock had dissipated. Wasting no time, she reached out and snatched the stone up, leaping back to her feet and holding it in front of her. The fire seemed to bend away from it, in a way no fire would ever act. She began to back away, swinging the stone around every now and again to repel the flames, until she finally found the exit and pushed it open with vigor.

In the next room over, there were no flames- there was no Neo. She turned and spotted a security guard running towards her. "Is something wrong, ma'am?" she asked. "I heard a scream."

Nora looked behind her, suspicion already setting in. Reaching out, she glanced back through the door.

Nothing. No fire, no cracks, no Neo.

Sighing, she turned back to the guard. "No, I... I thought I saw something I didn't."

The security guard seemed skeptical. "Are you sure?"

Nora nodded. "I... I'll be heading out a little earlier than I thought..."

Still feeling somewhat sick to her stomach, she made her way towards the main entrance, where the main entrance, where the man in the booth returned her hammer. "Fascinating stuff, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah... pretty interesting."

"Nothing quite like a blast from the past, is there?" the man asked.

Nora took a step backwards, closely examining him- primarily, his eyes. She was half-tempted to covertly present the stone to him to see if he recoiled- but something told her this was an honest coincidence.

"Yeah... blast from the past..." Nora nodded.

With that, she turned and hurried away- she'd had enough fun for one day. Time to head to the library.

If she was lucky, maybe Ren would be making his promised pancakes.

 _XXXX_

A couple quick disclaimers here- first, the poem, which is prominent in another Stephen King work, upon which I would elaborate, if it weren't for the spoilers it would potentially entail. Second, the holes and cracks are lifted from single-chapter manga Enigma of Amigara Fault, which should _definitely_ not be read before going to sleep at night. The next couple chapters ought to be on the longer side, but, as usual, I really shouldn't make any promises, lest they be inevitably broken. Until then, please R&R, constructive criticism and flames embraced, though not in equal measure, Gamer4 out.


	28. Yang Xiao Long Follows a Ghost (A)

Gamer4 in. I have _no_ earthly way of predicting how long this chapter will end up, so I won't even try. I'll just dive right in.

Disclaimer: Were we born to fight and die? Sacrificed for one huge lie? Are we heroes keeping peace? Or are we weapons pointed at the enemy so someone else can claim a victory?

Chapter XXVII

Yang Xiao Long Follows a Ghost

Before Yang encountered Neo again, she encountered a ghost.

Or, at the very least, that is what she was convinced had happened, and nothing ever managed to persuade her otherwise. Perhaps the idea brought her some measure of comfort, or perhaps she was simply _that_ certain of what she'd seen, but either way, she continued to believe it until her dying breath.

After breaking apart from the others, she wasted no time- she had a destination in mind, and already had her talisman around her neck, bouncing off her chest as she made her way back through Vale towards the residential district.

She made her way through half-remembered streets, likely so heavily maintained over the years that they were hardly the same streets at all anymore. Two lane roads had split apart, cell-like, to become four-lane or sometimes six-lane streets. Dirt paths that stirred up some semblance of deja vu in the back of her mind had been paved over, supermarkets built in lots that had once contained the outer wilderness of the Emerald Forest. Buildings soared high into the sky, higher than she'd ever dreamed of seeing in her hometown when she'd lived here- that was for cities like Argus, or the kingdom capitals.

It was almost a relief when she finally found her way into the residential district, which seemed to be the least changed from her childhood- the tall buildings had faded away, for the most part, and everything took on a much more suburban feeling- nothing but houses around for miles, people living side-by-side in relative harmony.

Down these streets Yang walked, and along them came several memories. That house- that was the house of Coco Adele, who had vanished many years ago, not long after school got out. She had been on friendly terms with the girl, though she wouldn't go as far as to call her a true friend.

A block or two away stood the building that had once belonged to Arslan Altan, who had attended another school altogether- Yang only remembered her name so distinctly as yet another of the missing from that horrible year.

Roving around, she spied a house that, if she was correct, had once belonged to Sky Lark, a name that incited a certain expected level of anger, but also, an odd sort of pity in the bottom of her chest. Had he gone missing? She didn't think so- not in the same way that all the others had, at any rate. Why, then, should she feel anything but scorn for a member of the team that served as her old enemies?

That white house across the street, surely, was the former residence of the Rainarts. Yang remembered very little of them- their son had been a giant of a man, she recalled, a very prominent member of Beacon's fighting team. His sister, Gretchen, on the other hand, was yet another victim, vanishing not long after the New Year. She was a sweet child, based on Yang's memory of her, not unlike Ruby, in fact. Part of her wondered if Gretchen's disappearance had inspired her to redouble her own efforts to find her own sister- efforts that rang so hollow now.

At last, she found the house she was looking for. A simple two-story house nestled in the center of Patch Street. From the outside, it seemed absolutely nothing had changed despite the passage of almost three decades. Every shingle and window was still in place, and even the curtains and paint job were much as she remembered- she felt that if she were to hold up a photo of her old house at just the right angle, it would appear as if she were looking through a mirror.

A wave of nostalgia overcame Yang as she looked upon her old home- the place she'd spent her entire childhood, from birth until her junior year of high school, after which she and her father had suddenly picked up and moved away, leaving all their memories behind. That was the reason her father had given- memory. There was too much in Vale- he'd lost his first wife, Raven Branwen, as she'd vanished practically overnight into an ether whose true nature Yang had never managed to discover. Shortly after, Summer Rose had been claimed by disease, and finally... Ruby.

It was a struggle not to collapse as memories of her red-cloaked sister returned to the forefront of her mind- the one she'd always loved above all others, more than her friends, more than here family, more than even herself- and she'd been snatched away at the whims of the creature lurking beneath this streets. Even worse, Yang had eventually left the town and simply _forgotten_ the whole ordeal! How? How was it possible? She wanted to cry out from the unfairness of it all, but she didn't want to draw undue attention to herself- it was a miracle she'd gone unrecognized as long as she had.

Instead, she settled for throwing a punch into a nearby telephone pole, sending several papers previously attached to it fluttering to the ground. She bent down to examine them closer- missing posters. Several, papered all around the telephone poles, sometimes right on top of each other. Names floated before her eyes, names she'd never heard personally, but which Ren had described earlier that day- Nolan Porfirio, Max Jones, Nicolette Maxwell... even more victims of that creature- the creature she had once vowed to destroy. She had failed then... but she didn't intend to fail this time.

Abruptly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flicker of red. Quickly, she spun around, trying to focus on whatever it had been. The street had been largely empty up until now- the weather didn't exactly encourage people to come outside today.

Nevertheless, across the street from her, seemingly shimmering in the dim light, she could see a figure- a silhouette, really. If she tried to focus too hard on it, it seemed to vanish. Only by keeping it at the edges of her vision or allowing her eyes to relax could she see it at all- but from that, she drew a startling conclusion.

The figure's head was bowed towards the ground, and she could see little of its features, but what Yang _could_ see was enough. It was short, the size of a child, and it was garbed in a large red cloak, hood pulled over its head. Be that as it may, Yang knew exactly what would be revealed if the figure were to lower the hood- short black hair, slightly longer on one side than the other, fading to red at the tips. Beneath that, deep, loving silver eyes.

"R-Ruby?" Yang asked, eyes widening.

The figure backed away slowly. Yang debated momentarily with herself whether to draw closer or not- what if this was one of It's tricks?

Somehow, though, she didn't think so. She didn't know why- perhaps it was merely that instinct Ren had spoken of during lunch- but somehow, she knew this apparition wasn't malevolent.

The figure then turned, and began walking away.

"Wait... wait!" Yang called out, setting out after it. "Ruby!"

The figure picked up its pace, eventually breaking into a run- a run that Yang matched. "Stop! Please!"

The cloak billowed out behind the figure, revealing a black and red skirt, black leggings, and large boots- Ruby's favorite outfit, once upon a time. Yang broke into a full sprint, struggling to catch up to the phantom before her. "RUBY!"

In her mind, the chase seemed to last hours, taking them across vast plains, deserts and tundras, mountains and valleys. In reality, however, it was only a few minutes- and a single turn off of Patch Street- before the figure came to an abrupt halt on the sidewalk, turning to face Yang again. Yang dug her heels into the ground, bringing herself to a similar halt. "Ruby..." she whispered, reaching out towards the image of her lost sister.

The figure seemed to shy away, looking down at the ground, not even making eye contact before vanishing altogether.

Yang felt a lump form in her throat, and this time, couldn't resist from collapsing to the ground, sobs wracking her body. If this was a trick of Neo's, it was crueller than anything else she could have devised- to seemingly grant her an opportunity to speak to her sister again, then wrench it away at the last second.

That final moment replayed itself in her mind again and again... until she realized something odd. Slowly, she looked up, glancing into the street, her tears coming to a stop. The figure hadn't just been looking _down..._

It seemed crazy, but so did so much else that was happening. Yang stepped out into the street before turning to face the curb, and sure enough, there it was- the thing the figure had _truly_ been looking at- a currently empty storm drain.

Sorrow gave way to rage- Yang's eyes blinked, transforming from light blue to a fiery red as she knelt down before the drain, peering into the darkness beyond. All thoughts of her own orders washed away by her fury, she growled out, "Get up h-here, you bitch... g-get up here and _p-p-pay_ for what you did!"

The storm drain remained silent, the darkness complete.

"Hey, lady, why are you yelling at a hole in the ground?"

Yang whipped around to see a child on a skateboard standing in the street, staring at her with a somewhat vacant expression on his face. She looked back to the drain momentarily, then back to the boy before rising to her feet. "Well... I d-dropped something, and I wasn't huh-happy about it..."

"I see," the boy nodded, seeming to accept this as an entirely rational explanation. Tilting his head slightly, he noted, "You look familiar."

Yang froze momentarily, before forcing a laugh to brush the notion aside. "I l-l-look like a lot of p-people, I guess... I get that a l-lot." Seeking to change the subject, she asked, "So, what's _your_ n-name, kid?"

The kid shook his head. "I'm not supposed to give my name to strangers. My Mommy and Daddy said so."

"Smart p-people," Yang nodded, a light smile gracing her features. "Did they t-t-tell you anything else?"

"Don't go down dark alleys, and don't go too far away from the house- they say there's a bad person around."

"There is," Yang agreed. "A _v-v-very_ bad p-person."

"Does he steal lunch money?"

Yang chuckled. "She's... a little wuh-worse than that."

"She?" the boy tilted his head. "Is it you?"

Yang found herself laughing again- why, even she couldn't pinpoint. "No, no, I'm not her. Me and m-m-my friends are trying to f-find her, though, and st-stop her. If you see a woman with differently c-c-colored hair and eyes, st-stay away from her- especially," she added as an afterthought, "if she offers you i-i-ice c-cream."

"I wouldn't take it," the boy shook his head reassuringly. "Mommy and Daddy said not to take anything from strangers."

"Again, very smart," Yang nodded. "I have some more t-t-tips, if you want to hear them."

The boy gave a noncommittal shrug. After a moment, Yang accepted that as a sign to go ahead. "St-stay away from these h-h-holes in the ground," she ordered, motioning with her head towards the drain she'd just been examining. "Especially during st-storms."

"Does this have something to do with the river monster?" the boy asked.

Yang froze again. "...River m-monster?"

The boy nodded earnestly. "My best friend was visiting the river one day, and he says he saw a monster in it- like a giant snake! He said it had wings and legs, but it just stayed in the water- it didn't fly or anything. I think he's just crazy, though..."

"Yeah," Yang forced some laughter. "Definitely c-c-crazy."

"That's what I thought, too," the boy nodded, laughing along.

"Stay away from the r-river, too," Yang advised.

The boy stopped laughing. "Are you crazy too, lady?"

Yang threw a glance back at the drain. "I don't know... m-m-maybe I am."

"Sometimes, I feel like _I'm_ crazy," the boy admitted.

Yang allowed a genuine smile onto her face. "I think w-we all have d-d-days like that..."

"Do you think the bad person has something to do with it?"

Yang wasn't certain what, exactly, the child was referring to- the river monster or the feelings of craziness- but she ultimately decided it didn't matter. "Yes. Yes, I d-do."

"But you and your friends are going to stop her?"

"That's the p-p-plan, yeah."

The boy tilted his head slightly. "Can _I_ help?"

As far as Yang was concerned, those were some of the most terrifying words she'd ever heard. "N-n-no... it's f-fine," she shook her head. "M-me and my f-friends can h-handle it."

The boy pouted slightly. "Grownups are always ignoring me..."

This elicited a genuine chuckle from Yang- not least because she had once felt very similarly. "B-believe me, th-this isn't s-something you _w-want_ to help with."

"Why not?"

"B-because..."

For a moment, she struggled to think of a way to explain the severity of the situation to this boy without scarring him for life- only for rational thought to be swept away by a voice from behind her with all the sweetness of poisoned honey. "Oh, why not let the kid join, Yangy? It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

Slowly, Yang turned to see exactly what she'd feared- Neo had finally appeared in the darkness of the storm drain, her pink-and-brown hair framing her pink-and-brown eyes just above a wicked grin. "Unless, of course," she continued, "you're already acknowledging that you can't beat me..."

"Lady?" the boy prompted, and Yang turned again. The boy's eyes were on her- he hadn't heard the voice, and she was guessing, if he were to look, he wouldn't be able to see Neo either. "Why not?"

"Yeah, Yangy!" Neo wheedled. "Why not?"

Yang realized she had to think fast- it was no longer about turning this boy away gently, it was about getting him out of here _as fast as possible._ "B-Because!" she began again. "Sh-she likes to k-kidnap ch-children and t-t-torture them!"

Far from widening his eyes with fear, the boy tilted his head again. "Like Jigsaw?"

"Not quite like that," Neo reflected, raising a speculative hand to her chin. "A nice idea, though- I ought to try it out next time- the reverse bear trap ought to do nicely."

Yang struggled between shaking her head and nodding. "Y-yes, _exactly_ l-l-like Jigsaw- and you d-don't want to end up l-l-like Muh-Mike Marks, do you?"

"No," the boy shuddered. "That was scary."

"I've seen that movie about a hundred sixty-seven times," Neo objected. "It just gets funnier every time!"

Yang continued to ignore her. "Th-then you should j-just go h-home- d-don't go out w-without your p-p-parents, okay?"

The boy nodded. "I guess so..."

He turned to go, leaving Yang to sigh in relief. After only a few feet, though, he turned around. "By the way... why do you talk weird?"

"Because she's a pansy!" came Neo's immediate response, but Yang found herself once again trying to figure out a way to explain it- fast.

Finally, she settled for, "I j-just d-d-do. S-something bad h-happened a while ago, and I've had this st-stutter ever s-since."

"Sorry," the boy looked away. "Mommy and Daddy said not to bring it up if someone talked weird, it's just..."

"Ah, who cares what Mommy and Daddy have to say?" Neo piped up. "Go play in the sewers! Take ice cream from strangers!"

"It's o-okay," Yang shook her head. "J-just g-go home, alright?"

The boy nodded again, then turned and finally left.

Yang wasted no time in spinning around and kneeling to face Neo. "Back to see me so soon?" her antagonist asked, a dark glee alight in her eyes. "We really must have a special bond. By the way, how did you enjoy lunch? I hear that place's dessert is to die for."

"It was n-nice," Yang admitted. "I g-g-got to see my f-friends again, and w-we st-started laying p-p-plans to k-kill you..."

Neo's smirk widened. "As adorable as ever- you really think you can kill me? You can't even _stop_ me!"

"We d-did last time," Yang objected. "It's no g-good telling me we didn't- I _kn-know_ we did. Otherwise, why d-didn't you go out with a buh-bang, like you always d-do?"

"I see Renny's been filling your head with hope." Neo's smirk didn't waver. "Okay, maybe I fibbed a _little_ last time- not that it matters. The only reason you stood a chance at _all_ last time was because Old Man Stick-In-The-Mud was helping you out- and guess what? _He's dead, too!_ "

Yang faltered. "Old Man... wh-who are you t-t-talking about?"

Neo let out that screechy, horrible laugh once again. "Oh, what? Renny didn't _tell_ you that part? I can see why- if he told you everything, you'd probably be on your plane back home already! I can almost appreciate it, in a way- I tip my hat to anyone who can manipulate their own friends like that!"

Yang's eyes narrowed. " _Who is he?"_

"He's _dead,_ is what he is," Neo smirked. "Dead as all your friends."

A cold hand wrapped around Yang's heart. "Wh-wh-what do y-y-you m-mean?"

Neo grinned. "It's almost fitting, in a way. This is right where it started, with your sister- this exact drain. Now, with all your friends taken, you're the only one left! Congratulations."

Yang looked down and realized Neo's arm was stretching out of the sewer- despite her seemingly not having moved at all, it was already closing its fingers around her ankle. Moving quickly, she grabbed her cross from around her neck and waved it directly in Neo's face, causing her to let go and back off, her smirk finally disappearing. Any annoyance she felt, though, was not obvious in her voice.

"You're very reliant on that cross of yours," she practically whispered. "Not that it matters- my promise still stands. Leave now, or you'll be dead by midnight. Old Man Stick-In-The-Mud isn't here to save you this time- remember that."

Neo pulled back into the darkness until Yang could see only her eyes. The eyes closed, and were gone.

Neo's threats about her friends echoing in her ears, Yang turned and dashed off towards the library, desperate to see them again, to confirm that Neo was simply lying.

XXXX

The sun had already set, and the library was in sight when Yang nearly collided with a woman in pink. "Whoah, watch where you're- Yang? Is something wrong?"

A moment later, Yang recognized the person she'd nearly run over as Nora Valkyrie. She quickly pulled her into a tight hug. "Y-y-you're safe!" she nearly cried.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good!" Nora agreed, fulfilling her role as the only member of Team Loser who could survive Yang's bear hugs with relative ease by reciprocating, reaching around Yang's back and hugging her tight as well. "Is something wrong?"

"I-I-I..."

Nora pulled away from her, a light smile gracing her features. "Sound it out, Yangy, sound it out!"

Frustrated, Yang closed her eyes. "H-h-hotter than the s-s-sun in the m-m-middle of J-J-July... I b-b-burn... hotter th-than the sun in the m-middle of J-July... I b-burn... hotter than the sun in the middle of July, I burn..."

She returned her eyes to Nora. "I met Neo."

Nora's smile vanished immediately. "You, too?"

Yang would have asked, but there were more urgent matters on her mind. "She said that... that all m-my friends were... were d-dead-"

"You think she got the others?!" Nora asked, flying into a panic. "Then come on! We gotta go find them!"

Yang reached out and grabbed her shoulder. "N-No... for n-now, all we can d-do is go b-back to the l-library- that's wh-where we agreed t-to meet. We have to g-go back there f-first."

Nora bit her lip. "But... but!"

"Th-that's where R-Ren will be, t-too," Yang cut her off. "If _anyone_ w-will know what t-to do, it'll b-be him."

Nora still didn't look happy about it, but Yang already knew she'd won- Ren was the trump card when dealing with Nora. Once his name was brought up, the conversation was as good as done. "Alright," Nora nodded. "Let's go."

Turning, the two continued their run to the library.

XXXX

When they finally arrived, the last patrons of the night were just taking their leave. To Yang's immense relief, Ren was at the door, seeing them off. "Thank you, you have a great night."

As they disappeared, he looked over to see them coming, and an immediately shine entered his eyes. "Ah! You're back! It's good to-"

"REN!" Nora cried, charging forward and pulling him into a very forceful hug. "Yang ran into Neo, and she was saying that everyone was _dead,_ and I thought I'd never _see_ you again, and-"

"Wait," Ren cut her off. "Yang ran into Neo?"

"And so did I!" Nora nodded rapidly. "I went to the museum, and there was a crack in the wall, and-"

"Slow down," Ren cut her off, finally forcing his way out of her grip. Looking up, he saw Yang approaching as well. "Perhaps we should take this conversation inside- it's definitely a lot warmer in there."

Her body temperature being what it was, Yang didn't really mind the cold, but sitting down was definitely a welcome prospect, so she followed Ren in. He guided them through the lobby and to a reading area- two large half-circle sofas pressed together to form a complete circle, with two gaps for entry, a large table in the middle, and several smaller tables off to the side with an assortment of chairs and beanbags surrounding them. A large window stood behind one couch, which eventually converged into a wall with three doors set into it- two to a pair of restrooms, and the third to parts unknown.

Ren took a seat in the couch by the window, allowing Yang and Nora the couch opposite him. Before sitting down, Nora raised a six-pack of beer that Yang had hardly noticed before, and plopped it down on the circular table between them.

Ren examined it closely. "Are you okay, Nora?"

"It... it was rough out there," Nora admitted sheepishly. "I hope you don't mind... I just thought I could use some liquid courage tonight."

"It's quite alright," Ren nodded. "Now, you were saying?"

"I s-saw Neo," Yang continued her story. "Sh-she told m-me everyone w-was already d-d-dead..."

The light in Ren's eyes flickered. "I see..."

"But we're all still here, right?" Nora pointed out nervously. "She was already lying about you and me, Ren, so maybe... about the others...?"

"I would consider it very possible," Ren nodded. "Her very existence hinges on deception, after all..."

Looking back up at his guests, he shrugged. "I hate to say it, ladies, but for now, I think that waiting is the best we can do. Either the others _will_ show up, or they won't."

"I...I guess so..." Nora looked down, very clearly unhappy with events as they were. Slowly, she reached out and grabbed a beer, popping the cap off with her bare hands. Yang reached out and grabbed a bottle as well, and after a quick nod of consent from Nora, followed suit in popping it open and taking a large swig.

Ren slowly rose to his feet. "I think... I'll take a quick trip to the break room, see if I can get some dinner going. The library should be a safe place- I've put up several wards to keep Neo out."

"You'll be making d-dinner... in the b-break room?" Yang raised an eyebrow.

"It's unorthodox," Ren admitted, "but I've taken the liberty of moving a grill into it. I like to think I'm good enough at cooking to prepare a meal without burning the building to the ground."

"Of course you are!" Nora piped up immediately, glaring at Yang as if daring her to contradict the statement.

Yang shrugged. "I'm s-sure nobody t-takes s-safety more s-seriously than you," she admitted. "G-go crazy."

Ren nodded, then rose to his feet and entered the third door in the wall.

Nora turned nervously to Yang. "What if they _are_ dead?" she asked, sad and scared in somewhat equal measure. "I mean, Blakey's not here yet, and if we lose one of the others..."

"D-Don't worry about it," Yang waved her concern aside, wishing dearly that she felt as confident as she sounded. "N-Now I th-think about it, I'm _sure_ sh-she was l-lying."

Nora opened her mouth again, but was interrupted by a tapping at the door. They both immediately leapt to their feet and rushed to the lobby, where, on the other side of the doors, they saw a very familiar woman in white.

"Weiss!" Yang grinned, reaching up to flick a switch to open the doors.

As soon as they were far enough apart to allow entry, Weiss leapt through and jumped up into Yang's arms, pulling her into the closest approximation of a bear hug that she could without her feet touching the floor. "I got... so worried about you..." she whispered, her throat sounding somewhat sore. "I saw... terrible things..."

"I b-believe you," Yang nodded, running a hand through Weiss's hair. "Come on in- Ren's making d-dinner, and Nora brought beer."

As they turned to go deeper into the library, Weiss blushed. "Well... to be honest... I have some liquor of my own..."

Yang looked down and laughed- in one hand, Weiss was clutching a large bottle of rich white wine. "N-Never ch-change, Ice Queen."

As she spoke, she ruffled Weiss's hair, causing Weiss to halfheartedly pull away. "Enough with that stupid name- you guys know I hate that name." Her words were severe, but lacked the bite to back them up.

"Aww, you'll always be Ice Queen to us!" Nora squealed, pulling Weiss into a tight hug of her own.

"Beep... beep... Nora!" Weiss gasped as she struggled out of her firm grip. "Let's... let's just sit down for a bit..."

Before they'd rounded the corner, however, there was another tap at the glass- they turned and found Pyrrha standing there, looking in with clear nerves in her emerald green eyes. This time, Nora flicked the switch to allow entry, which Pyrrha graciously accepted, entering slowly and raising two large bottles of what seemed to be gin. "If anyone needs some liquid courage as much as I do right now..."

"We do," Yang nodded. "In f-fact, Nora and W-Weiss brought some of their own."

"You don't say?" Pyrrha smiled wanly. Weiss nodded, raising her bottle of wine.

"Yup," Nora nodded firmly. "You wouldn't _believe_ what I've been through _today!_ "

"I could say the same," Pyrrha laughed humorlessly. "Where's Ren and Jaune?"

The other women looked at each other, wondering how Pyrrha might react. "Well, Ren's in the break room, making dinner," Nora explained. "As for Jaune... well..."

"I thought he might be with you, to be honest," Weiss admitted. "As far as I know, he hasn't made it back yet."

Pyrrha's eyes widened. A moment later, she'd laid her gin on a nearby shelf before turning back to the door. "I'm going out to look for him."

"NO!" Yang and Nora both yelled, reaching out and grabbing her before she made it to the door.

"When he comes back, _this_ is where he'll be coming!" Nora pointed out.

"After what I've seen today- I'm guessing, after what we've _all_ seen today- I can't advise splitting up again," Weiss agreed.

Pyrrha stopped, biting her lip. "I know all that... but..."

"Vomit boy can l-l-look after h-himself," Yang struggled to assure her through her own fears. "But if you g-g-go out after h-him, and he c-comes b-back first, _he'll_ g-go out after _y-you,_ and it'll all st-start again!"

Pyrrha finally stopped her struggles, lowering her head and sighing. "You're right," she practically whispered. "Let's... let's go..."

She grabbed her gin off the nearby shelf and followed Yang and Nora to the reading area, where she set her gin on one side of Nora's beer while Weiss set her wine on the other.

The door to the break room opened and Ren peered out. "Oh, good!" he smiled. "Weiss and Pyrrha are back! Any sign of Jaune yet?"

Yang shook her head solemnly, while Nora made some none-too-subtle shushing gestures while waving her head at Pyrrha, who was still sulking. Ren's smile vanished, and he nodded. Eyes landing on the bottles of liquor sitting on the table, he added, "Would anyone like a glass? I don't think we have any wine glasses, but I'd imagine some plastic cups would do just fine..."

After an affirmative from the others, he ducked back into the break room. Yang turned to smile at Weiss. "So, Ice Queen, d-didja ever th-think you'd be d-drinking w-wine out of p-plastic cups?"

"Shut up." Weiss lightly punched her in the shoulder, heedless of the small smile that appeared upon hearing the barb.

Turning more solemn, Yang decided to ask what was really on her mind. "S-S-So... did y-you two s-see It too?"

There was little doubt which two she was referring too. Both Weiss and Pyrrha nodded. "And you?" Pyrrha returned.

"Yeah," Nora agreed. "Me _and_ Yang."

"Wh-what did you s-see?" Yang asked, recalling the distress in Weiss's eyes at the door.

Weiss seemed to be choking. "I... I don't really want to talk about it."

Yang was on the verge of pushing further, but was cut off by Nora. "Well, then, I guess _I_ can tell- I went to the museum, which sounds weird, I know, because it's _me,_ but it's where I first met Ren, _way_ back in the day, so, yeah... but I got there, and there was this crack in the wall, and these weird sounds were coming from it-"

*Tap, tap. Tap, tap.*

Everyone rose to their feet, but nobody beat Pyrrha, who was already on her way to the door before anyone else had even left the couch circle. From over the nearby shelf, they heard her joyful voice. "Jaune!"

"Pyrrha!" Sure enough, that was Jaune's voice. "Sorry if I worried you... is anyone else here?"

"We're _all_ here now," Pyrrha's voice responded warmly. "Come in- we're waiting on Ren in the break room..."

A moment later, the two appeared from behind the shelf and took their seats on the couch opposite Yang, Nora, and Weiss. As Jaune made to sit down, he put a clear six-pack of his own on the table, causing laughter from Yang as she recognized it. "R-R _-Really,_ Vomit Boy? _H-hard soda?_ "

Jaune blushed. "I...I'm a bit of a lightweight! Shut up!"

Nora joined in the laughter. "Well, look at that!" she smiled cheerfully. "Neo really _was_ lying!"

"About what?" Pyrrha asked.

"Nothing," Yang shook her head. "It doesn't m-matter anymore. All that m-m-matters is, we're all b-back."

"I couldn't agree more," came Ren's voice from the doorway- they all turned to see him smiling as he approached with six red plastic cups, which he set down in front of each of them, keeping one for himself. "I'm sure talk will turn to dark things soon enough, but for now, let's just enjoy being together again- I'll have some pancakes ready soon enough."

"Pancakes?" Nora asked, instantly perking up.

"I promised, didn't I?" Ren smiled indulgently at her.

"It ain't a m-meeting of Team L-Loser without pancakes!" Yang concurred.

"Amen to that," Jaune smiled.

"I'll toast to that," Pyrrha upped him. She reached out and poured some gin into her cup, as Weiss poured some wine into her own. Seeing where things were going, Yang and Nora emptied their beer bottles into their cups, while Jaune poured some of his hard soda into his and Ren reached across the table to receive some of Pyrrha's gin. As one, they all stood, holding out their cups.

"To Team Loser!" Yang declared.

"To Team Loser!" all the others chanted- except for Nora, who instead chanted, "To pancakes!"

The serious mood broke altogether, as they all suddenly found themselves bending over laughing. Pyrrha gave a polite chuckle as she resumed her seat, lowering her cup back to the table. Ren placed his cup on the table with a some quiet laughter of his own. Weiss seemed to be struggling to keep it in as she resumed her seat, while Jaune and Yang broke out into hysterics, struggling not to spill their respective drinks.

"Oh..." Nora's eyes widened. "Wrong toast? Sorry..."

"Don't worry about it, Nora," Ren patted her on the back. "I'll be right back with the pancakes."

Yang took the opportunity to turn to the others. "S-so... did anyone r-r-remember anything?"

"A little more than I wanted to, to be honest," Jaune looked down, rubbing the back of his head. "She- _It_ was playing some nasty games with me..."

"Myself as well," Weiss agreed, her smile disappearing from her face. "She appeared to me as... as _Ruby._..."

Yang bit her lip. "I... I thought I saw Ruby, too."

"Really?" Nora asked, looking at her with sympathy. "She pulled _that_ trick again?"

"It wasn't h-her," Yang shook her head. "At l-least... I d-don't _th-think_ it was... I think it m-might have been... her g-g-ghost..."

She closed her eyes, then slowly opened them, already bracing herself for the looks of pity. She wasn't disappointed. Pyrrha was the first to speak. "I can certainly see why you'd like to see something like that, Yang, but..."

"I _kn-know_ it sounds c-c-crazy," Yang admitted. "But isn't _all_ of this? Is a g-ghost _really_ any c-crazier than wh-what we're f-f-fighting?"

"She's got a point," Nora came to her aid.

Yang shook her head. "I d-don't know f-for sure. M-maybe I _w-was_ just s-s-seeing things... b-but I d-don't think I w-was."

A silence fell, before Pyrrha finally returned with, "Well... I think I remembered... a _bit_ of how we stopped it. Didn't it have something to do with silver?"

"That _does_ sound familiar," Weiss agreed. "I'm trying to remember exactly _why,_ but I can't get through that block..."

"I feel you there, sister," Nora nodded, thumping Weiss on the back ("OOF!") "I saw something in the museum, before It attacked me. There was this picture of a dancing lady, and the plaque had a poem on it... something about a big guardian... See the... see the... something..."

"'See the guardian of enormous girth,'" came Ren's voice from the door to the breakroom. They all turned to see him carrying a large tray filled with flapjacks, with a generous dollop of butter and plenty of syrup to go around. As they stared at him, he continued, a light smile on his face. "'Within his hands he holds the earth. His work is slow, but always kind. He holds us all within his mind. Upon his name, all vows are made. He sees us all, but cannot aid. He loves the land, and loves the sea, and even loves a child like me.'" As he continued the poem, he laid the tray in front of them before removing six plates from it and beginning to place them on the table before taking a seat next to Pyrrha and Jaune.

"You know it?" Nora's eyes widened.

"Know it?" Ren chuckled. "I _wrote_ it. That was a poem I wrote for my English class in my senior year- just after all of you left for greener pastures, as it were."

"Then why did Nora see it in the museum?" Jaune asked.

"As to that, I can't say," Ren mused.

Yang fixed his eyes with hers. "R-Ren," she said- not threateningly, but authoritatively. "It's about t-t-time you st-stop b-beating around the b-bush and t-told us the wh-whole truth."

"It's nothing I'm keeping from you," Ren raised his hands. "I honestly don't know why that poem would be in the museum."

Nora was already helping herself to some hotcakes as she looked up. "Well, it wasn't really _normal..._ I looked away for a second, and when I looked back, they'd disappeared..."

"You mean Neo showed them to you?" Pyrrha speculated.

"But why would It do that?" Weiss pondered.

"It d-doesn't m-m-matter," Yang interrupted. "Th-that's not what I'm t-t-talking about. Wh-when I s-s-saw Neo, I-It said y-you'd b-been keeping secrets."

"I suppose I have," Ren admitted. "But not intentionally, I assure you. I just want to make sure everyone's ready to remember some of the things that happened that summer."

Yang fixed his gaze. "She m-m-mentioned an 'Old M-Man Stick-In-The-Mud.' S-someone who helped us l-l-last time. _D-do you kn-know who it is?_ "

Ren looked away, almost ashamedly. "I may."

"She s-said that he's d-d-dead now."

 _That_ caught Ren's attention. "Did she?" He was biting his lower lip. "Well... that's not good... _if_ she was telling the truth..."

"You _d-do_ know," Yang's eyes narrowed. "R-Ren, you need to _t-trust_ us- we can t-take whatever it is."

"Do we really have to right now, though?" Nora asked. "I don't know about you guys, but after everything that's happened, I could use a break, myself."

"That sounds pleasant, yes," Weiss agreed.

"If only for an hour or two, I suppose," Pyrrha suggested.

"After today? Definitely sounds good," Jaune concurred.

Yang wasn't happy about it, but conceded as she found herself outvoted. She bit her lip to stop herself from objecting, instead watching as Ren pulled out a scroll and began to dial a number.

"Something _is_ still bugging me, though..." Weiss admitted. "Something about Its... Its _actions._ They seem... sporadic. It keeps telling us to run away, but at the same time, in some way, it seems more like It wants us here, like It's _luring_ us here... I don't know how to explain it..."

"Neither do I, Ice Queen, so let's turn to the man with all the answers!" Nora chirped. "Ohhhh, Renny!"

Ren raised his eyes as he continued dialing the number. "Give me a moment, I'm going to try and call Blake again."

"ABOUT TIME!" Nora beamed, leaping to her feet and taking a seat on the back of the couch. "Tell our favorite kitty that if she's not here by tomorrow, she'll have to worry about a lot more than a silly ice cream lady!"

This elicited some light chuckles, even from Ren as he finally finished dialing the number and raised the scroll to his ear.

Nora's grin widened, and she seemingly took the laughter as a cue to leap into an improv stand-up show right there. "HELL-LO, VALE! I just flew in from Argus, and boy, are my arms tired!"

"If this is your highest content, then it's a small wonder I haven't heard of your comedy career," Weiss interjected, smiling nevertheless.

"You flatter me, Weissy," Nora patted her head before leaping back to her feet. "Just thought I'd stop in today and show off my 'Hey,-I'm-getting-fat clothes!"

Another series of chuckles. She beamed and plowed ahead. "Yeah, I tried to go on a diet- all the books were recommending more fruit, so I though, what better source than strawberry donuts?"

"I'd laugh harder if that didn't sound _exactly_ like you," Weiss pointed out, despite very clearly laughing anyways.

"Ah, this girl," Nora grinned, reaching out and pulling the white-haired girl into a headlock. "She is like the sister I never had- wait a minute!" She suddenly recoiled, looking deeply into Weiss's eyes. "She- she _is_ the sister I never had! Oh my gosh!"

Amidst the renewed laughter, Ren spoke up- "Beep beep, Nora!" However, even he was struggling to hide his smile as he responded to whoever was on the other line. "Hello? Is this the Wukong residence? Yes, I'm looking for Blake Wukong... yes?" Abruptly, his face fell. "I... I see. Sorry to bother you..." Slowly, he ended the call and lowered the scroll to the table.

A dark mood seemed to seep out of him and across the room. Smiles vanished, and it took all of Pyrrha's courage to finally break the silence. "Ren? Is... is something wrong?"

Ren didn't speak- he was raising his hands to cover his face in a decidedly un-Renlike gesture.

Yang spoke up. "Don't try to k-k-keep _this_ from us, too-"

Ren interrupted with words that froze everybody in their tracks.

"Blake is dead."

 _XXXX_

Please R&R, constructive criticism and flames both embraced, Gamer4 out.


	29. Three Guests Arrive in Vale (A)

Gamer4 in. Full disclosure, this chapter is actually going to be, essentially, three shorter chapters rolled into one longer one. Whether it will end up longer than normal, still shorter than normal, or somewhere in between, I have no way of guessing. This one might not be what you were expecting, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless!

Disclaimer: Now it's time to say goodbye, to the things we loved and the innocence of youth! How the time seems to fly from our carefree lives, and the solitude and peace we always knew.

Chapter XXVIII

Three Guests Arrive in Vale

Far away from the city of Vale, just barely within sight of its tallest skyscrapers, there stood a building perched atop a hill.

The building had a long, rich history, reaching back at least a century and a half, perhaps even longer, predating most of the buildings in Vale proper. It had originally been built as the residence for one of Remnant's richest and most influential families, whose name had long since faded into obscurity as other families rose up to take the mantel- most prominently, of course, the most prestigious house of Schnee.

Only a plaque tucked away in one of the building's oldest hallways retained any memory of those early days, declaring that the manor had once been known as the Hienton estate. Whether this was the name of the family the house had once belonged to, the name of a lost child, or some literary allusion was unknown- the aristocracy of the time _had_ been rather eccentric.

Exactly when the transition had occurred, it was difficult to tell- that period had faded into legend among the few who cared to remember that the place even existed. One story told of a child of that old family who returned after years abroad to find the house being used for... less-than-savory purposes. As the legend went, he had gone so mad from whatever he'd discovered that he had murdered his family in the night before transforming the building into what it was today, becoming the first resident of the newly christened Graham's Memorial Mental Institution.

The validity of such stories are, of course, nigh impossible to verify, particularly in a town such as Vale.

Over time, the building had expanded greatly, wing after wing added on to accommodate more and more patients. Rumors circulated the countryside that the practices at Graham's Memorial Mental Institution were... less than savory, but no investigation ever managed to find any signs of wrongdoing.

Of course, they never took into account the story of one Cardin Winchester.

XXXX

Cardin Winchester was, at this point, among the oldest residents of the Institution, though by no means _the_ oldest. Admitted at the young age of seventeen, he had been an oddity that the current head doctor, Arthur Watts, had taken immediate interest in, despite only having recently joined himself at the time.

Near the turn of the century, Cardin Winchester had been brought before the court of Vale on numerous charges of murder, starting a year earlier with the disappearance of Ruby Rose, and carrying into late August of the next year when, as the prosecution stated, he concluded his murders by turning his knife- the murder weapon of choice- on his final victims, including his accomplices, Russel Thrush, Sky Lark, and Dove Bronzewing, and even his own father, Robert Winchester.

The sole complication lay in Cardin's defense- that is to say, there was none. No real lawyer dared take the case, and Cardin didn't speak a single word in defense of himself- he had gone catatonic. Throughout the case, he had simply sat in the defendant's chair, empty-eyed and motionless, as every last damning piece of evidence was brought against him. At long last, he was kept from prison on a rather obvious insanity plea, and was thus sent to the nearest mental institution- Graham's Memorial.

As a students of psychology, Watts was fascinated by this odd specimen- who, despite his charges, simply sat there as life happened around him, regardless of what anyone said or did. His only acknowledgment that there was another world out there at all was that, whenever food was placed directly in front of him, he would eat. When water was provided, he would drink. In all other areas of life, however, it seemed as though there was simply nothing there. Often, Doctor Watts found himself wondering just what had caused this in a seemingly healthy young man.

Further evidence that something was just _not right_ with this boy lay in his hair, which, despite his young age, had already been bleached a stark white. The courts said he had undergone a traumatic experience towards the end of the killings, and Watts was inclined to agree.

It had taken a full decade for Cardin to awaken from his catatonia- though, as far as Watts was concerned, it was fortunate that he had woken up at all. Very little changed, however- he joined in the usual regimens that went on around the asylum, finally showing some degree of autonomous thought, but he still seemed rather empty. He hardly spoke to anyone, hardly interacted with anyone, hardly acknowledged anyone's presence. He was no longer catatonic, but it still seemed as though he was just going through pre-ordained motions.

That was also around the time that a new employee joined the asylum- Hazel Rainart, a graduate from Haven Academy, named for the river that flowed alongside it, before arriving at Graham's. As of now, Hazel was probably the closest to Watts, taking orders only directly from him. As Watts discovered, Hazel had a grudge against Cardin Winchester, which had manifested itself almost as soon as he had first entered the institution. He would constantly stalk Cardin whenever he was outside his room, beating him over the most minor infractions, only stopping when another warden or doctor happened by.

"Why do you torment him so?" Watts had asked rather flippantly one day.

"You really intend to defend him?" Hazel had asked in that characteristic growl of his. "He's nothing more than a murderer."

"I am more than aware of his background," Watts agreed. "I wasn't reprimanding you- I was simply asking you why you do it."

A long silence passed, before Hazel had grunted out, "Look through his list of victims. I'm sure you can piece it together."

Watts had followed his advice, going back to the details of the case that had led to Cardin's arrival at his institution. Sure enough, he found his answer.

Disappeared early January, body discovered late August- Gretchen Rainart. Hazel's younger sister.

XXXX

Watts had done nothing to defend Cardin from Hazel's wrath- he had only begun regulating it, mandating that it be done under controlled conditions so that he could observe it, and the results it had on the boy's overall welfare. He placed no limits on what Hazel was allowed to do, so long as the patient remained alive for further experimentation. Hazel took no issue with this stipulation- in his mind, death was too good a punishment for what Cardin Winchester had done.

And still, the patient in question refused to speak a word in his own defense, usually just sitting there and taking whatever abuse came his way from the eight-foot giant. The first time he reacted at all was in the early summer of 826- twenty-seven years after his initial incarceration, when Hazel had finally passed a boundary that had finally incited Watts' intervention, genuinely afraid he was about to kill the man.

Months passed, and Hazel returned to simply beating him, relishing as Cardin finally showed fear in his eyes whenever Hazel approached. At long last, he was truly punishing his sister's killer.

In the ultimate irony, the incident seemed to finally jerk Cardin into a sort of awareness, doing more for him than anything else in the meantime had- despite his fear, he was finally getting better.

Then came the night that the moon talked to him.

XXXX

The inmates were in the middle of gardening at the time- an activity that was intended to rehabilitate them, but seemed to have no effect at best, or simply give them another outlet for their maniacal tendencies at worst. Even as he dug his way into the soil, Cardin could look to one side and see one of his neighbors, Tyrian Callows, cackling wildly as he slammed seed after seed into the ground. Cardin wasn't certain what had resulted in this scorpion faunus's admission into the asylum- he kept changing the story, and each version was more gruesome than the last- but he _did_ know that every day seemed to result in something else being removed from his room, as he somehow managed to find a way to injure himself or others with seemingly mundane items. Even now, he was only allowed in the garden under intense supervision, for which Cardin was grateful- for once, Hazel was too occupied with someone else to bother with him.

"Cardin..."

Cardin quickly glanced around- he was _convinced_ he'd just heard a woman's voice, despite there being separate wings dedicated to the male and female inmates. The moonless night wasn't _great_ for his vision, but he could definitely see no women nearby to have made that noise. Slowly, he turned back to his dirt.

"Cardin..." the voice crooned again.

He spun around again, this time _certain_ of what he'd heard.

Abruptly, a bright light seemed to shine down on him, and the voice spoke again. "Up here, bright eyes."

Cardin looked up to see... the moon. Despite the pitch black blanket the sky had been up until now, the moon had suddenly appeared, shining brightly down at him. Glancing from side to side, he didn't see anybody else noticing this odd turn of events.

The light changed, darkening very slightly to a still-bright shade of pink. He looked back up- the surface of the moon seemed to have twisted and formed into the shape of an eye- a deep, pink eye, gazing down at him.

"It's good to see you again, Cardin," the voice spoke again. "Twenty-seven years already? My, how the time flies, doesn't it?"

"What... who are you?" he practically whispered- he had _no_ wish to attract Hazel's attention.

"I want to help you, Cardin," the voice said. "You've been treated _so_ unfairly these past years, haven't you? Accused of crimes you didn't commit..."

Cardin's mind went back. They'd said he'd killed his father... and that was true. Very true- he could still feel the knife in his hand and the blood pouring from his neck.

They'd said he'd killed his friends... and that was true as well. From a certain point of view, at least. It was his responsibility that his friends had been where they were when they were killed, even if he hadn't been the one to do it personally. That had been the man in the mask- a man whose existence he'd never managed to convince anyone of. When he brought it up to Watts, the doctor simply believed the man to be a figment of Cardin's imagination, a scapegoat to attribute his own actions to _anyone_ else.

They said he'd killed all the others- Ruby Rose, Velvet Scarlatina, Coco Adele, Gretchen Rainart, and he had.

Except he hadn't. He had no idea what had truly happened to them- even his guess about the man in the mask killing them as well was nothing more than that- a guess.

More than once, the thought had occurred to him that, just maybe, it didn't really matter what the truth was. The people of Vale hadn't wanted _the_ killer, just _a_ killer, someone they could deride and punish for a week or two before simply returning to their own lives, content that the bad people were behind bars, while they, the good people, remained.

The eye seemed to know everything he was thinking. It chuckled. "So unfair," the voice repeated. "I can only imagine what your old... _friends_ think of you now."

They eye blinked, and when it opened again, it had turned turquoise. A new voice spoke- a much higher-pitched, mocking one. "Yeah, glad to hear _that_ moron's behind bars- only thing he was good for was giving everyone a quick laugh- I can do that and get _paid!_ "

Another blink, and the eye was amber. "Remember how much he hated faunus? Well, there he is, locked safely away, while this faunus runs one of the best companies in the world!"

A narrow, darker pink. "I almost feel sorry for him, in a way- I doubt his own family ever truly loved him."

A bright lilac. "How could they? How could anyone love that butt-ugly lump of dumb muscle?"

A piercing, icy blue. "The funny thing is that he truly believed he was ever worth our notice at all."

An emerald green. "Indeed- a truly pathetic creature. Wherever he is, he deserves everything that's coming to him."

And finally, a bright blue. "Wait... who are you guys talking about again?"

As the eye closed once more, leaving the moon a bright white, the laughter of all the voices rang in Cardin's ears, as anger boiled in his stomach. "Shut up... shut up, _shut up,_ SHUT UP!"

The eye opened again, this time a dark brown. "It's their fault you're here now, you know," it murmured. "Their fault... _their fault..."_

"WINCHESTER!"

Cardin barely had time to register the fury in Hazel's voice before his head was smacked into the ground by a colossal fist. "GET BACK TO WORK!" the man shouted, before turning back towards Tyrian.

Cardin struggled to get back to his feet. As he did, the light of the moon faded, just in time for him to catch sight of a high-heeled boot appearing at the edge of his vision. Slowly, he raised his eyes to see a short woman in a coat, tight pants, carrying a parasol over her shoulder, and smiling at him beneath a mix of pink and brown hair and eyes. Slowly, she lowered her hand and tilted his head up.

"I want to help you get your revenge, Cardin," she whispered. "I'll help you escape this place, and I ask only for an eensy-weensy favor in return." As she spoke, she raised her free hand, index finger and thumb held a millimeter apart. "Perhaps you'd even consider it a perk."

Cardin stared up at the woman, speechless. She tilted her head and gave a light laugh. "Perhaps you're not quite ready to trust me," she shrugged. "Fair enough. I'll be back when you go to bed, then- and I'll bring some character references. You can make your decision then."

She smiled, and began to back away, fading into nothingness with every step. "Just keep an eye on the sky..."

Cardin blinked, and she was gone.

XXXX

The next continent over, Neptune Vasilias had found himself in an unusual position. He had been on the verge of leaving his wife's hospital for the day when a call came through ordering him to visit one last house. Feasibly, he could have passed the job to someone else, but something told him he ought to accept this one, a feeling that he understood when he arrived and saw a very familiar man being carried into the ambulance via stretcher. "What the- Sage?"

The drive back to the hospital had been quick, and not long after, Neptune had officially left his post and immediately used the first of his free hours to pay a visit to his ailing friend, currently lying in a hospital bed, incredibly battered, bruised, and bloody.

"Sage, what happened?!" he asked quickly.

"Is that... is that Neptune I see?" the man on the bed asked through two puffy black eyes. "Well, it's been a long time..." Suddenly, his eyes widened as far as they were capable, and his voice turned urgent. "No, forget that! Neptune, if you're here, I need you to get me a phone number for every hotel in Vale!"

Neptune blinked- there was so much to respond to in that request that he didn't know where to begin. Finally, he settled on the word that leapt out the most to him- "Vale?"

"Yes, Vale- a city on the Vytal peninsula! I have a friend who just went over there recently- he's in trouble!"

Remembering where he'd heard the city's name before, Neptune's blood ran cold. "Trouble? What kind of trouble?"

"That psychotic bitch of a girlfriend..." Sage growled, lowering back into bed, struggling not to overexert himself, not at a time like this. "Dust... I should _never_ have answered that door..."

XXXX

In the months to come, Sage only chastised himself more and more for answering the door, for falling for Emerald Sustrai's illusion. When he had looked through the peephole, he'd seen, not a grown woman carrying two knives, but a simple girlscout offering some cookies. Not one to turn down some treats, he had opened the door for her, only to find a knife pressed through his shoulder and himself forced to the floor, the dark-skinned face of Emerald Sustrai glowering down at him from above.

"WHERE IS HE?!" she'd shouted.

Despite already having a wound in his shoulder, Sage attempted to play dumb. "I don't know who you're-"

"Don't you fucking dare," Emerald cut him off, brandishing her knives. "If there's anyone Jaune would have gone to after our fight, it's you. I doubt anyone else would dare take him in with _that_ little sob story. So tell me where he went afterwards."

Sage kept his hands over his head, struggling to figure out a way out of this situation without betraying his friend. "What makes you think he told me anything?"

Emerald delivered a kick to his head- enough to rattle him, but not enough to send him into unconsciousness. "I have all the money on lockdown- he wouldn't get very far without help. And I know him- he wouldn't take money from anyone else without telling them _exactly_ what it was for. _Where did he go?"_

Sage thought fast. "Vacuo!" he belted out. "He's going to Vacuo- he needed some face time with-"

He was cut off by a stomp on the chest with all of Emerald's strength. "He's not going to Vacuo!" she snarled. "I already guessed that- he's not dumb enough to lie to me. Where is he really going?"

Sage struggled to pointedly look away. "If he didn't tell you, I'm not going to, either."

Emerald stepped off of him momentarily, before spinning around again and driving her knives into his legs, prompting a scream from him. "You think I'm not willing to hurt you to get my answers?" she asked, voice dripping with poison. "Given all the shit you spew, I'd probably be doing the world a favor, to be honest. No one will miss you, especially if a certain movement you've affronted got involved... would you like to find yourself on the wrong end of MeAlso?"

Sage's breathing was heavy, but he shook his head. "I'm not... saying anything..."

Emerald rose to her feet. "How about I call the police, tell them about everything you've been doing to me? Jaune even gave me a nice bump on the head to prove it."

"And I've got... slashes in my legs..."

"And you think they'll stop to notice that?" Emerald's eyebrows quirked.

Sage remained silent for a moment. "Go ahead. Do what you want. I'm not selling him out- and if I go to jail, at least I know he's safe on the outside."

Emerald's red eyes glowered down at him, before she stepped into another room, returning with a hefty statue- a gift he'd received from Jaune on his birthday. She brought it down on his face- once, twice, a third time. It was a miracle he was still breathing, though he could hardly see anymore, and he was quite sure that his nose was broken. She then brought the knives out again and brought it right near his chest, slowly pressing it closer. He could feel it drawing blood, slowly getting deeper with each passing second.

"I'm not going to ask again," she growled. "Where... did... he... go?"

"If... he didn't say... I won't..."

"He said something," Emerald glared. "Something about a city called Vale-"

She felt Sage tense beneath her. Momentarily, she hesitated with the knife. "Vale? So he _was_ telling the truth, hmm? He's going to Vale?"

Sage remained silent, but whatever look was on his face seemed enough for her. She rose to her feet again. "You tell _anyone,_ " she growled warningly, "and I come back to finish the job. Got it?"

She didn't give him time to answer before she turned and left back into the night.

The next ten minutes or so were excruciating for Sage Ayana, as he scrabbled across the floor and forced himself to his feet just enough to reach his scroll and call an ambulance. He had then passed out until he eventually woke up in the hospital, one of his old college friends by his side.

XXXX

"So... you think she's going after him?" Neptune concluded.

"Seems like the logical assumption, doesn't it?" Sage pointed out. "Now hurry up, I _need_ to get in contact with Jaune."

"Not the police?"

Sage recalled the account of Jaune, and the much briefer account of Emerald. "I think... I think that if Jaune knows she's coming, that'll be enough."

As best he could with the wounds around his eyes, Sage met Neptune's. "Come on," he whispered imploringly. "I _need_ you to do this for me."

Finally, Neptune nodded, rising back to his feet. "Okay. I'll dig up everything I can- every number that might get us through to him. I'll even help you make the calls. Just promise me one thing in return?"

"Name it."

"Get some rest for now," Neptune ordered. "I'll wake you up if I find his number. Promise."

Sage nodded wearily before collapsing back onto his bed. Neptune turned and left, allowing him to slip slowly into unconsciousness.

Before he passed out, his last thoughts lingered on his friend. _Dust protect you, Jaune- Dust protect you from that psychotic bitch you call your girlfriend._

XXXX

Roll call came and went at Graham's Memorial Mental Institution, and one by one, the inmates returned to bed and descended into slumber. Remembering the promise of the woman from earlier, Cardin attempted to remain awake until her arrival, but doubt set in swiftly- the whole thing seemed so dream-like... could he be certain it wasn't just a hallucination?

Slowly, sleep began weighing down on his eyes, before claiming him altogether.

His dreams turned towards the day that he had truly woken up- the day Hazel had crossed the line so severely that Watts had finally interfered.

He had been approached in his cell by the man, who had ordered him to stand. "The doctor wants you for another experiment," he had announced. Cardin had wordlessly stood and followed him out and down the hall. Tyrian appeared at the window of his cell and proceeded to wordlessly mock Cardin as he passed by- common practice, and one that Cardin couldn't bring himself to care about.

Finally, he found himself in a dark room, strapped to a chair as Dr. Watts observed through a window above. He said nothing as Hazel strapped him in, before standing in front of him, arms crossed.

"It's time," he'd growled out. "Things are going to be worse for you today than ever... unless you confess. If you admit to your crimes, I'll go easy on you. If not... you'll have a bad time."

Cardin didn't speak, simply gazing up into the giant's hazel eyes.

"Very well," Hazel nodded, as though he'd expected that response. "In that case..."

He produced a small object and positioned it above Cardin's hand. He had to stare at it for a while before it finally registered in his mind as a nail.

"This is for Gretchen," Hazel growled, practically snarling, as he produced a hammer.

He swung.

Cardin screamed.

Hazel yelled back in his face.

XXXX

Cardin swung bold upright in his bed, sweating, looking around frantically- Hazel was nowhere nearby. He was alone in his cell.

"Cardin!"

...Or so he'd thought. A voice was coming from under his bed. He leaned over, and in a moment, a very familiar face appeared from beneath- the face of Sky Lark.

Cardin was shocked on many levels. Sky Lark was dead, he knew that- murdered all those years ago by the man in the mask. Yet here he was, stitches running along his neck as though his head had simply been sewn back on, and that alone was enough to resurrect him.

Beyond that, however, it seemed as though Sky hadn't aged a day since Cardin had seen him last. Where Cardin had aged rapidly within this asylum walls, to the point where he looked around eighty despite barely being forty, Sky still seemed like the same teenager Cardin had watched die that fateful summer.

He reacted in the only way he could think of- "What are you doing under my bed, Sky?"

Sky smiled. "The lady sent us here, Cardin. Dove's here, too."

Cardin looked up, and a shape emerged from the shadows- the shape of Dove Bronzewing, clothes torn to reveal a gaping wound in his chest, sizzling slightly as though it had been made by something searing hot. Aside from that, he was much the same as Sky- as short, squat, and alive as he had been that summer.

"She's a wonderful woman," Dove assured him. "She saved us, back then, took us to a better place. She wants you to come along, too, but she has a job for you first."

"What... what does she want me to do?"

"Nothing you don't want to do anyway," Sky assured him. "She just wants to help you get out of here, so you can hunt down those losers and kill them- kill them _all._ "

"And why can't _you_ do it?" Cardin asked, demonstrating something surprising- something he didn't even acknowledge out loud. Deep down, at some level, he knew that these weren't his friends that he was talking to. Whether he knew it consciously or not, some part of him knew that he was only talking to the same woman from earlier. "You seem pretty powerful- why do you need me?"

"She's powerful, yes," Dove nodded, keeping up the charade nonetheless. "But even her power has limits- rules that she has to follow. Rules that they can exploit."

"But you're human," Sky picked up. "If they have faith in a cross and use it against her, it becomes a powerful shield. But if they have faith in a cross and use it against _you,_ it's just a funny piece of metal."

"That's the deal, Cardin," Dove smiled, drawing closer, one hand behind his back. "She'll break you out of here, set you free... as long as you go out and kill them all."

He removed his hand from behind his back, revealing a large mace, the head of which had several jagged edges, ready to cut anyone who touched them.

Cardin slowly reached out, wrapping his fingers around the handle, getting a feeling for the weight. He then turned his eyes back to his old lackeys. "But how do you plan on getting me out?" he asked. "There are guards everywhere- especially Hazel." He shuddered. "If he finds out..."

"The Lady will take care of them," Dove assured him. "Stay awake this time, and wait for her sign. Once your door opens, just head on out the front gate- she has a friend waiting there for you. She'll take you right to Vale."

Cardin slowly nodded, before returning to his bed, staring up at the ceiling. A moment later, they were gone. He didn't have to turn to see it- he just knew, they were gone. All that was left was to wait for whatever signal they intended to send.

XXXX

"Care to explain how this happened, Scarlet?"

Scarlet continued to restlessly pace around the room, only throwing the occasional glance at the woman sitting in the sofa occupying the center. The woman was Gwen Darcy, the director of the film he and Yang had been working on- _Woman of Reverence._ And, at the moment, she was very, very unhappy.

"I know your girlfriend's impulsive," she frowned, "but to just pack up and leave in the middle of filming like this is... unprecedented, to say the least."

"I've told you everything I can," Scarlet muttered, doing what had to be his fifteenth lap around the chamber. "She got a call from an old friend of hers in a city up north, then rushed up to help him out with something. I don't know what, I don't know why."

"Didn't she bother to think about the position this leaves us in?" Gwen asked, practically throwing fire from her eyes. "Our lead actress, abandoning her post out of nowhere for some man she hasn't seen since high school?"

"There's more to it," Scarlet found himself saying, and though he couldn't say why, he knew that it was true. "There has to be."

"Again, care to explain?" Gwen countered.

"You didn't see her that night." Scarlet shuddered, recalling the events surrounding the call. "She was terrified. I've never seen her look like that before."

"Terrified of _what?_ " Gwen asked exasperatedly. "What _is_ this? Is someone being abused? Is she involved with the Dust-damned _mafia?_ "

Scarlet shook his head. "No, nothing like that- I don't think, at least. Whatever it is, it's... deeper." Again, he wasn't certain where this observation was coming from, but he knew it was true.

"What do you _mean,_ deeper?" Gwen was practically screaming at this point. "None of this makes _sense_!"

Scarlet, however, was starting to descend into his own world. Remembering the dread on Yang's face the night she'd left, he could only come to one conclusion- "I should have gone with her."

"What?" Gwen asked flatly, staring up at the lead actor for her movie.

"I should have gone with her," Scarlet repeated. "She asked me not to, but I should have gone anyways. Whatever this is, it's enough to scare her, and that's not something that happens easily. I should have gone with her to give her some extra support-"

"Don't even think about it," Gwen interrupted. "It's bad enough that we lost her, I don't need to lose _both_ of my lead actors at once."

Scarlet bit back his retort- whatever was happening with Yang, it was _far_ more important than a silly movie. He didn't exactly think that line would assist him with Gwen.

The woman sighed. "Look, Scarlet, we can still recover from this. We can find someone to take her place- it won't be the same level of talent, sure, but we have to work with what we have, and thanks to Yang's impulsiveness, we don't have her. She's given us some lemons, all we have to do is make them into lemonade."

Seeing the doubtful look on Scarlet's face, she returned to her frown. " _No,_ Scarlet. I think I can find someone to replace her, but finding someone to replace you both _this_ late will throw a wrench into everything. If you even _think_ about leaving, consider this movie dead on arrival."

With that, she rose to her feet and left the room.

Scarlet bit his lip, staring after her for another moment or two before finally making his decision. Slowly, he reached into his pocket, grabbed his scroll, and proceeded to dial a number as he raised it up to his ear.

"Hello? Yes, thank you, my name's Scarlet David, and I need the quickest flight to Vale that you can get me..."

XXXX

As fate would have it, the night that the moon began speaking to Cardin was also the night that Mercury Black was officially transferred into Graham's Memorial Mental Institution, albeit on the other side of the facility from Cardin himself. He had gone in kicking and screaming about a woman with yellow eyes and razor-sharp teeth, drawing the immediate interest of Doctor Arthur Watts.

"A very interesting subject," Watts commented to Hazel as the two returned to watching Cardin's wing. "If you'd like to join me in experimenting on him in future..."

"I have no interest in him," Hazel grunted out. "Or any of your... experiments."

"Only the ones involving Mr. Winchester?" Watts countered casually. Hazel tensed, but didn't respond, prompting a chuckle from Watts. "Have it your way." He reached out and opened up a nearby novella- _The Hounds of Tindalos._

On the other side of the building, Mercury was in the middle of a seemingly perpetual panic attack. His arms were running up and down his legs again, and a seemingly endless stream of words was pouring out of his mouth. "Rise and fall and rise and fall, all in the sight of the lights- those horrible _fucking_ lights... she's out there, she's out there, I saw her, she sees everything, always watching, never watching..."

Suddenly, his head snapped up, and he slowly approached the nearby window, lifting himself up _just_ high enough to peer out and see the outside of the building. Down below, he could see a very familiar woman, smiling up at him. As he watched, she raised a hand and delivered a gentle wave.

"OH GOD!" he panicked, rushing to the door. "SHE'S HERE! SHE'S HERE! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT, YOU BASTARDS, SHE'S ALREADY HERE!"

To his immense surprise, the door opened up almost immediately. He dashed into the corridor outside, to see that, one by one, every door in his wing was opening as well. "EVERYBODY GET OUT OF HERE!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "SHE'S HERE! GET OUT- SHE'S HERE!"

Alarms began blaring across the building, prompting Watts and Hazel to look around in confusion. "What the hell is going on?" Watts wondered.

A guard was dashing by, prompting Hazel to reach out and grab him. "What's happening?" he asked, surprisingly calm, given the situation.

"The doors in the east wing- they all opened!"

Watts's eyes widened. "Get everyone over there- shut it down!"

The guard nodded and ran off. Watts turned to Hazel. "Aren't _you_ going?"

Hazel shook his head. "My purpose it to watch Winchester," he growled.

Watts shut the door again. "Of course it is..."

XXXX

Cardin heard the alarms blaring, and immediately jumped to his feet, grabbing the mace that Dove had left for him. Dragging it to the door, he waited... waited...

The door slid open. He immediately exited into the corridor outside, where, sure enough, the other doors were sliding open as well. Tyrian Callows cackled wildly as he leapt out, dashing down the halls and ensuring that any patients who were still somehow asleep woke up to hear the news.

Cardin ignored everything, setting out down the corridor towards the building's front door.

"I see you heard my signal..."

He hardly even turned his head as he sensed the woman appearing next to him. She smiled as she began striding down the hall next to him, casually twirling her parasol around her hand.

"Watts and Hazel will be on their way," Cardin muttered.

"You just leave them to me," the woman repeated, her smile taking on a more wicked caste.

In their room, Watts's eyes widened again. "Now _these_ doors are opening, too?!"

Hazel's eyes narrowed. "Winchester..."

He swung the door open and exited into the main building, making his way towards where he suspected Cardin would be. Any patients that encountered him immediately turned and ran, sometimes ducking back into their rooms, sometimes just running down the hall. Watts followed close behind, not keen on being alone amidst all this chaos.

Up ahead, Cardin appeared. "Winchester!" Hazel barked. "Return to your room!"

Cardin made no indication that he'd heard the order, continuing his slow, steady walk down the hall.

Watts appeared at his side, staring Cardin down. "Do what he says, Mr. Winchester. Act swiftly, and I will protect you from Mr. Rainart's retribution."

Cardin kept his march.

"Very well," Hazel growled, cracking his knuckles. "If that is how you wish it."

And then, from behind Cardin, Watts began to notice something odd. Up above them, in the corner between ceiling and wall, a pool of darkness was forming. Single-minded as he was, Hazel didn't seem to even notice it, but Watts certainly did.

It was bulging, exiting out of the corner, taking on a form almost like smoke as it made its way to the ground, where it began to curl and form into the shape of a dog- white, green, and black, with glowing, blood-red eyes. He faltered as he stared at it, thoughts of his cast-aside novella coming to mind. Surely, it wasn't possible- the stress was causing him to see things...

Then the dog, letting out an incredibly unearthly growling, leapt forward and brought his thoughts to an end.

Had Doctor Watts been able to predict his final thoughts, he likely would have committed himself to the institution he ran. His final thoughts were that he should have sealed off all the corners.

His death cries were heard by Hazel, who spun around to see a girl kneeling down over Watts's body, her head tilted to the side as if in confusion. As if noticing his gaze, she turned towards him before rising back to her feet.

Hazel's breath hitched as he recognized the brown eyes, the matching hair pulled into a pair of pigtails, and the light pink dress the girl wore- despite the very obvious bloodstain leaking from a gaping wound in her chest. "Gretchen?"

The girl smiled. "Hey, Big Bro! Can we play together again, like we used to?"

Hazel hesitated, doubting the evidence of his eyes. "This... this isn't possible."

His sister's eyes began to water. "Please, Big Bro? I just want to be with you again." She reached out towards him, her fingers outstretched. Hazel found himself moving forward, logic overridden by emotion, until their fingers touched.

Gretchen smiled again. "Thank you, Big Bro. I just want to play with you... forever... and ever... and ever..."

Hazel looked down and started when he saw her fingers stretching, wrapping around his arm as they grew long past the point of possibility. They continued to wrap around his forearm, making their way up towards his shoulder. "What... what is this?"

"and ever... and ever... and ever..." Gretchen continued chanting as her fingers continually elongated. Finally, he raised his face to meet his sister's eyes.

Her face split open.

Hazel's last thoughts were not of Cardin, or Watts, or of anything he'd done while serving in this institution.

His last thoughts were of his sister.

XXXX

It was Lie Ren's belief that Vale was a town where the line between coincidence and fate often blurred- and were he fully aware of everything that transpired that night, it would very likely have strengthened that conviction.

Emerald was the first to arrive in Vale, only minutes before Scarlet's plane touched down at Vale Airport.

Out on the road, she managed to lure in a motorist with an illusion, before seizing his car- her knives making very effective bargaining tools. Just to be safe, she'd ended up utilizing them anyways.

She had driven to the nearest hotel and checked in for the night, paying no mind to the red-haired man standing just across the lobby from her, who had also driven here from the same airport in a car that wasn't his own- though he'd rented his.

Scarlet, likewise, paid little mind to the dark-skinned woman who'd gotten here ever-so-slightly ahead of him, simply approaching the counter when she'd finished her business to sign himself in for the night as well. The next day, he'd set out in search of a familiar blond mane of hair, but it would be useless to go out searching at night.

Both cars were parked right next to one another.

Both guests slept in rooms directly adjacent to each other. The man across the hall had a very loud snore that kept Emerald up for the better part of the night, but Scarlet, used to sleeping next to Yang, took an odd solace in the noise, drifting off much easier than he'd have thought beforehand.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Vale, the Graham's Memorial Mental Institution had descended into total chaos as the patients quite literally took over the asylum. The guards were putting up a valiant effort, however, and in the end, only one patient actually escaped the building that night.

Staggering slightly, Cardin Winchester made his way down the steps out front, hardly able to believe that he was finally free after the better part of three decades. The mace hung limply at his side as he more dragged than carried it down the path.

Just past the gate, already hanging open, was a sleek blue sportscar, and sure enough, there was already someone at the wheel.

He clambered into the passenger's seat before turning to look at his driver.

"I'm so glad to see you, Cardin," she beamed at him. She had long brown hair tied into a ponytail by a large, poofy ribbon. She wore a greenish-gray blazer over a pleated blue skirt, her legs hidden behind long, black stockings. The eyes she beamed at him through were a deep emerald.

"To Vale?" he asked, quite redundantly.

"That's the plan," the woman nodded, continuing to smile warmly at him. "Please, just sit back and enjoy the ride."

As she set the car into motion, she began to hum under her breath, eventually adding some words to her melody- "Every day, I imagine a future where I can be with you..."

 _XXXX_

Hope this one didn't throw anyone off too much. As usual, to let me know, please R&R, constructive criticism and flames embraced, Gamer4 out.


	30. Peter Port Recalls a Battle (C)

Gamer4 in. I feel _very_ strongly that this chapter will be shorter than normal, but I've beaten the odds before- let's get started and try to beat them this time, too.

Disclaimer: An ode to Yang and Ruby, which, in all honesty, should have come much earlier. Ahem- Dream up anything- I'll make it all come true! Everything you need is all I have for you!

Chapter XXIX

Peter Port Recalls a Battle

Nora finally released Weiss from her headlock, allowing her to drop to the sofa- both girls had a look of horror etched into their faces. Jaune and Pyrrha gazed at each other, seeing the immediate denial in each others' eyes, and Yang felt her heart stop.

"D...d-d-dead?" she finally forced out.

Ren didn't remove his face from his hands as he listlessly nodded.

Pyrrha attempted to speak, but had to swallow a lump in her throat first. "Was it... was it... _It?_ "

Ren shook his head, before speaking in a harsh, hoarse voice. "No... she... she did it herself... her husband, Sun Wukong... he found her in the bathtub, her wrists cut open... right after I... _right after I..._ "

The others stared at their friend, offering sympathetic looks that he couldn't see through his palms. "If... if I hadn't called her... she'd still be-"

"No!" Nora spoke up, hurdling across the table between them to pull Ren into a tight hug. He was so surprised that he finally lowered his hands. "It _wasn't_ your fault, Ren- you were just doing what you had to do!"

She glared around at the others, seemingly daring them to challenge her assertion- but even if they disagreed, they didn't feel they'd have the heart to actually _say_ it. Ever since arriving, Yang had noticed a veil over Ren, every word and expression seemingly calculated- but the look on his face now was clear as day. He was obviously, truly devastated.

A long silence fell as Nora turned back to Ren, who slowly raised his arms to return the hug. If he was crying, he was doing it silently, remaining absolutely still.

Yang glanced around, struggling through her own despair to take in everyone else's reactions. Weiss's eyes were wide, giving her face the look of someone who no longer had any idea where they were or what they were doing. Jaune and Pyrrha continued to stare at each other, as if trying to reassure one another that somehow, some way, everything would still be alright.

It seemed nobody was keen on breaking the silence- it felt as though they would remain there all night, staring at each other, keeping vigil for their fallen friend.

At long last, though, Jaune _did_ break the silence- with the shakiest voice anyone had heard from him. "What... what do we do now?"

"Wh-wh-what do y-you m-m-mean?" Yang asked, heedless to her worsening stutter.

"I mean... can we really... how can we fight It without her?" Jaune seemed to be falling over his words, despair mixing with fear to make it even harder for him to speak than Yang. "I mean... we barely won last time, and that was _with_ her help... what chance do we have without her?"

Nora finally released Ren, returning to her spot at Yang's side. Ren finally looked up and faced the others, his lower lip between his teeth. "I... I don't know."

Yang thought back, recalling her first meeting with Neo that day. "I... I sh-sh-should have kn-known..."

"What do you mean?" Nora asked, glancing over at her.

"I f-f-first saw N-Neo before l-lunch," Yang explained. "Sh-she was at the g-g-graveyard... she sh-showed me s-six g-graves... one f-for each of us... b-because someone already c-c-called dibs on the seventh."

The dark realization passed over everyone else. It took Weiss to give it voice. "It knew... somehow, It knew!"

Yang turned back to face Ren. "And It also s-said... It also told me about... about th-the Old M-Man. R-Ren... we _n-n-need to kn-know._ "

Ren returned his eyes to the top of the table between them. "I can't tell you _everything,_ " he began, raising a hand to preemptively silence Yang's indignation, "but I _can_ tell you there was an 'Old Man,' as you put it, that helped us through last time. If It's telling the truth, and he's dead... that wouldn't be good."

"Well, have you spoken to this old man lately?" Pyrrha asked, struggling to remain rational through her fear. "Perhaps we can tell that way?"

"No," Ren shook his head. "I haven't... but... how do I put it... he's not exactly someone you can just call on a scroll..."

Yang's patience was wearing thin. " _D-dammit, Ren!_ " she burst out. "Either t-t-tell us s-straight out, or j-just shut up! I'm s-s-sick of this c-c-cryptic _bullshit!_ "

"Hey, hey, hey!" Nora objected, turning to glare at her. "Ease off, Yang! If he isn't saying something straight out, I'm sure he has a good reason for it! It's not _his_ fault Blake decided to cut her arms open!"

A ringing silence fell, as Nora's angry look turned to horror- she slapped her hands over her mouth, looking very much like she'd give anything to take that last sentence back. Yang's eyes widened in shock- shock reflected on everyone else's faces, even Ren's.

Weiss was the first to recover. "Beep beep, Nora," she said sternly, delivering the least humorous incarnation of the phrase they'd ever heard. Next, she turned to Ren. "But Yang has a point- we're not going to get anywhere going through riddles and half-truths. If we're going to figure out what to do from here... we _need_ to remember."

"Perhaps you can start with what you _can_ tell us," Pyrrha suggested gently, brushing her hand along Ren's shoulder. "Just... go over the events of that summer we haven't remembered yet, and maybe we'll remember the rest on our own."

Ren closed his eyes, rubbing them with his wrists. "Very well..." he muttered slowly. "What... what's the last thing you remember?"

Yang and Nora glanced at each other- Yang nodded. Slowly, still looking uncomfortable, Nora took her seat again. "We... the last we remember is going into the House on Vickery Lane."

"I... some part of me remembers them telling us about that," Weiss stepped in. "But I can't remember when... the last thing I remember was helping Jaune clean his bathroom after... after It soaked it in blood."

"That's the last thing I remember, too," Jaune nodded. "Pyrrha?"

"The same," Pyrrha agreed.

Ren steepled his hands, and lowered his head to rest on them, closing his eyes gently. "In that case... that's not long before _I_ joined you. The Apocalyptic Rock Fight..."

The others stared at him, wondering what that last line was supposed to mean.

Ren looked up. "Well, I can hardly tell you what _you_ were doing right before that, but I can tell you what _I_ was doing. That morning, I'd been-

XXXX

examining his journal, Ren came to a startling conclusion.

"It's a _cycle..._ "

He flipped back through his various handwritten pages, newspaper clippings, and assorted photographs, grabbing a pen and listing everything down on a new page.

 _712- The Murder on Vickery Lane._

 _714- Destruction of Ellis Hotel._

 _741- Assassination of Amber Bailey._

 _742- Carnival Murders._

 _?_

 _771- Destruction of Menagerie_

 _798- Murder of Ruby Rose, disappearances begin again._

It all fit! A twenty-seven year hiatus, a large act of violence that began a series of disappearances, ending, after a year or two, with yet another grand act of violence that returned the town to hiatus! Except...

His hand brushed over the question marks between the carnival murders and the destruction of Menagerie. If his theory was correct, there should be something between those two- twenty-seven years after the Carnival Murders, but a couple years before Menagerie had burned to the ground. However, despite all his research, he'd turned up nothing.

That said, everything else fit so _cleanly_ into place, it was hard to imagine it was all just a coincidence...

He closed his journal again, returning it to its spot on his bookshelf before turning and dashing downstairs. "Mom!" he called out.

"Is something wrong, sweetie?" An Ren asked, turning to look at him.

"Is father home?"

"Yes- he's out in the fields," An nodded. "I'm sure he could use some-"

"Thanks!" Ren was already out the door before she could finish her sentence. She stood there for a moment, surprised, before shaking her head, a slight smile on her face.

"It _is_ nice to see him getting excited about something for a change."

Ren hurried out into the fields, where, sure enough, his father was attacking the ground with various implements- he was currently utilizing a hoe.

"Ah, Lie!" he smiled, greeting him warmly. "Care to join me, today?"

"Sure, but... I wanted to ask you something."

"What might that be?" Li asked, returning his focus to the dirt.

"You've told me all about the night Menagerie burnt down..."

"That I have."

"But... did anything else happen before that?"

Li turned to look at him, a brow quirked in confusion. "What do you mean? Like, were there any warning signs?"

"No, not like that..." Ren shook his head, struggling to figure out how to express his question. "What I want to know is... were there any other major disasters before Menagerie? A year or two before, maybe?"

Li swung his hoe one final time, before turning back to Ren, his face suddenly turning very serious. "What brought this up, all of a sudden?"

Ren bit his tongue, wondering how to say this without being brushed aside. "Well... I thought I read something about it in one of the old papers at the library, but... but it didn't give any details, and I couldn't find anything else talking about it." Doing some quick mental math, he added, "I think the paper was from... er... 769."

Li Ren's face paled. "That's what I was afraid of..."

Silence fell on the field, father looking at his son with an odd amount of wariness.

Finally, he said, "I'm afraid I'm not the person best suited to tell you the story of what happened back then, Lie."

"Something _did_ happen?"

"Oh, something happened, alright," Li nodded. He bit his lower lip for a moment, then continued. "I have a job for you... go into town, and find Old Man Peter Port- he teaches at your school now, doesn't he?" Ren nodded. "Right... go find him, and ask _him_ to tell you the story. I'm sure everything will become clear."

Ren wasn't sure what to make of his father's odd attitude, but his need for answers was more pressing at the moment. "Thank you, father."

Li smiled. "Later today, your mother and I will be heading out to get some fireworks for tomorrow night- hurry back, and you can come with us."

Ren smiled- he loved picking out fireworks for the fourth of July- the day celebrating Vytal's separation from the Kingdom of Mistral. "I'll be sure to do that," he nodded, before turning towards a shack not too distant from the house.

He hurried in, and found his bike propped up against the wall. He looked around for a moment, half-expecting a cat with grayish tabby fur to jump out of the hay towards him- only for his face to fall when it didn't happen.

Several years ago, his parents had begun to teach him responsibility by getting him a pet- a young cat that he had dubbed Trico, after a creature from one of his father's stories, which the cat bore a strong resemblance to. He had cared for the cat deeply, coming to consider it the closest thing to a friend he had in a town that seemed to consider him and his family outsiders. Whenever he ate breakfast, he shared some milk with his furry companion, and every time he took a seat, he didn't have to wait long before padded paws approached him and leapt into his lap- particularly if he was upset. Trico seemed to have an uncanny ability to tell when his owner was unhappy, and immediately countered it by leaping onto him, rubbing around and purring harder than he did at any other point.

However, just the previous year, Trico had gone missing- to where, Ren had no way of knowing. One day, the cat had failed to appear, which didn't worry Ren at first- the cat had a tendency to wander, after all.

But then the next day fell, and Trico still had yet to return.

It had taken a total of three weeks before Ren finally accepted that Trico was gone, and when the realization hit home, he was inconsolable. His parents had done everything they could to assure him that it wasn't his fault, but that did little to help- he had lost a vital part of himself, and he felt that nothing would ever be the same again.

Shaking those memories off, however, Ren mounted his bike and turned towards the shack's exit- he had an interview to hold.

XXXX

It didn't take long to track down his professor- definitely not as long as he'd feared. He found the old, rotund man sitting outside a café, sipping at a large coffee mug that, he was amused to see, had a sort of bridge across the top to protect his moustache.

He entered, ordered a simple coffee with no cream and one sugar for himself, before heading to the table where his teacher was sitting.

"Professor!" he greeted as he stepped nearer. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Oh, Mr. Ren!" Port greeted, jovially as ever. "And what brings you to this fine establishment?"

"I had some questions, for a project my father has me working on." The half-truth came to his lips with relative ease. "He said you're the best person to ask."

"Flattery will get you everywhere, my boy," Port smiled. "Well, take a seat and ask away!"

"Well, I was doing some research," Ren began, "when I found some... some allusions to an incident in Vale- something that happened here some years ago. But... I haven't been able to find any other references to it since. Even what I _did_ find was... rather vague."

"Hmm..." Port stroked his moustache thoughtfully. "Well, you recall the talk you and I had. There have been many such incidents in Vale's long and storied history- which one might you be referring to in particular?"

Ren spoke cautiously- "I believe the resources I _could_ find mentioned the year 769..."

Port's eyes widened- particularly surprising for one who usually had his eyes closed or hidden behind his eyebrows. "Ah. I see. And your father..."

"He didn't want to tell me- he said you were better suited."

Port continued stroking his moustache. "Well, _this_ certainly wasn't something I was expecting to address today..."

"If it's too much trouble-" Ren began.

"Oh, no, no trouble at all, my boy, no trouble at all," Port interrupted. "It's just... unusual, you see. There was an incident in 769, alright, though you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who was there who will talk about it. Your father was there, yes, as was Ms. Goodwitch, Ms. Peach, and even Bartholomew- er, that's Dr. Oobleck to you- was there, though he was but a wee lad at the time. I doubt any single one of them would be keen on telling you the full story."

"But you?"

"I'm not proud of my own actions that day, my boy, I'll fully admit to that. But it is, nevertheless, a vital part of our town's history- I would be remiss to hold the story back from you because of my own personal shame."

With every word, Ren's interest continued to grow. "What exactly _happened_ that year?"

Port leaned back in his seat, glancing up at the bright blue sky. "It was the middle of summer- a summer much like this one, in fact. The town was being plagued by a group of bandits- I believe they were keeping a base in the Emerald Forest, though any signs of it have long since been wiped away. I believe they had ties to a larger tribe of thieves from Anima, but that doesn't matter much for what I'm about to tell you.

"I don't mean to justify what happened that day- only to explain it to you. The bandits infiltrated our town, and began robbing indiscriminately- stores, banks, businesses, and homes. They were hardly shy about taking hostages, and though I can't confirm them, there are rumors that they did, indeed, take some people's lives."

He paused as a barista poked her head out of the building, calling Ren's name. He stood up momentarily to retrieve his coffee, then sat down again. "So," he prompted, "these bandits... they killed people?"

"So go the rumors," Port shrugged. "Again, I can't verify them for myself."

"And the police?"

"The bandits were always one step ahead." Port shook his head sadly. "Had they been a tad more efficient, maybe... maybe things wouldn't have..."

Port paused to clear his throat and take another drink from his mug. "Anyways... the last place they robbed was Sieben Pharmaceuticals."

"Old man Klein's place?" Ren asked, surprised. " _He_ was part of this, too?"

"To an extent," Port nodded. "Though his greatest role was to pinpoint their next target. You see, when they entered his store, he managed to hide away from them _just_ long enough to overhear their next target- _From Dust 'Til Dawn._ What happened next depends on who you ask. Mr. Sieben was eventually found out, that much is certain, but what isn't certain is whether the bandits realized he'd overheard them or not. Some say they did, and ordered him not to go to the police, on pain of death. Others, primarily those that believe the bandits had killed before, think that they were none the wiser to what Sieben had discovered.

"Either way, though, it wasn't the police he went to that night.

"Instead, he came into a bar not far from here- the Crow Bar- and spoke to other townspeople. I believe his line of logic was that the bandits had people in the police, hence why the police were always a step behind. Whether that was true or not... is difficult to say. Anyways, he told a few select townsfolk that he knew he could trust that the bandits would be approaching _From Dust 'Til Dawn_ the next day. Word began to spread, those he trusted telling others that _they_ trusted, then those others telling still more.

"That night, we all armed ourselves and chose our spots hidden away in the alleys and buildings surrounding _From Dust 'Til Dawn._ And we waited."

Port paused to take a long swig from his mug. Ren followed suit, taking a more measured sample of his coffee. "So... _you_ were there, and Goodwitch, and Peach..."

"Oobleck was there with his father," Port nodded and continued the list. "The bartender of the Crow Bar arrived just past midnight... Leonardo Lionheart, who you wouldn't know, he passed away a few years before you were born, but he was there, too..."

"And my father?" Ren asked, almost apprehensively.

"Yes," Port confirmed. "He was there as well.

"We waited for hours- none of us knew exactly _when_ the bandits would show up, only that they would. Sieben was at my side that day- he hadn't armed himself, but he had to see how things played out. After all, it was he who had set things into motion.

"At long last, the bandits arrived. I counted roughly fifteen or twenty, men and women alike, all marching up to the door like they owned the place. At their head, a woman by the name of Vernal. She reached out and opened the door... and we struck.

"It... wasn't a pretty sight, my boy. Gunfire everywhere, bullets flying back and forth, blood leaking from the wounds of the fallen... I would rather not see anything such as that again."

"A hard battle?" Ren guessed.

"I hesitate to give it the honor of calling it a battle," Port shook his head. "It was a _slaughter._ One by one, the bandits fell. I'm less than certain they managed to take even _one_ of us- if they did, it was nobody I was aware of. I remember one of them, a blond man with crooked teeth, struck down by Peach- only for his body to continue taking gunfire as it slouched against the building. He was nigh unrecognizable by the time it was over.

"And Vernal? Oh, yes, she died that day, alright. As she began to realize what was happening, she attempted to run, only to be struck in the head by yet another bullet- a bullet that passed clean through and shattered the window behind her, sending her body through the area it had once occupied. When we found her, it seemed as though her head was simply _gone._ "

He paused again, taking in the look on Ren's face. "I'm sorry if this disturbs you, my boy."

"It does," Ren nodded, "but I feel it's something I needed to know, nonetheless."

"The truth isn't always pleasant," Port agreed, "but that does not change that it is the truth."

"I couldn't agree more," Ren nodded, taking another drink to hide his discomfort.

Port continued nodding. "Yes... the truth is not to be turned away from... but we did anyways.

"Over the course of that day, the entire scene was cleaned up like it never happened. The bodies were taken to a coroner, the street was wiped clean of blood, and a new window was provided to the store. By the next day, you'd be hard-pressed to tell that anything had happened there at all.

"I'm not surprised that you found no resources describing this event, my boy- of all that has happened in this town, it seems that battle was the quickest to fade into obscurity. The newspapers only mentioned it in passing, in a context implying it had been the police that gunned down the bandits, rather than the normal people of Vale. In less than a week, we had all returned to living normally, and today, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who would acknowledge it at all."

Ren looked down towards the ground. "And... my _father_ was part of it..."

"I believe he did what he had to be done, my boy," Port interjected, attempting to sound comforting. "You say he takes no pride in it- and perhaps you can take comfort in that. He was seeking to protect his town, and if there's anything you can take from his unwillingness to discuss it, it's that he doesn't consider his actions heroic, worth bragging about or emulating."

Ren still wasn't entirely comforted, but he had to wrap up this interview first. "Is there... anything else?"

"Anything else?" Port repeated, eyebrow raising.

"Just... anything else worth mentioning? Anything unusual going on at the time? Anybody there you didn't recognize?"

Port paused, leaning his head back in thought. "Well... I suppose I've told you just about everything... except for the woman."

"Woman?" Ren's head snapped up. "What woman?"

Port tapped his chin. "Plenty of us who were there that day claim to have seen a woman there that we didn't recognize. An odd young lady, with two different colors of hair- pink and brown. She was rather short, but many claim to have seen her wading into the thick of battle."

Ren leaned forward. "Did _you_ see her?"

Port lowered his head to face his student directly. "...Yes, my boy, I believe I did."

"Were her eyes different colors?" Ren asked, dreading the answer.

Port took a long time considering that answer. "...In a way, I suppose," he finally said. "Not in the sense of heterochromia, but... and this is _particularly_ odd... everyone who saw her ascribes to her a _different_ eye color. When Goodwitch gave her statement afterwards, she said the woman's eyes were green. Bartholomew- Dr. Oobleck, to you- swore upon his life that her eyes were blue. I believe your father described eyes of a pale gold, and Ms. Peach declared them to be silver."

"Silver eyes?" Ren asked, surprised.

"A very rare trait," Port nodded. "Likely, if someone were in Vale with silver eyes, we would know who she was."

"Peach has silver eyes," Ren recalled.

Port smiled. "That she does," he agreed. "Perhaps that has something to do with it, although..."

"Although?" Ren prompted.

"That wasn't the only odd thing about her," Port continued. "Not only did everyone see her with a different color of eyes, they also saw her wielding a different _weapon-_ and very odd weapons they saw, too. The only normal one was your father, Li- he said he'd seen her atop a building, shooting down upon the bandits with a bow and arrow."

"And the others?"

"Well... Goodwitch claims to have seen her entering the thick of battle, attacking them with a riding crop. I believe Bartholomew- that is, Dr. Oobleck- described her as using an odd, collapsible club of sorts, which he claimed shot fire from the end at one point- though there were no burn marks on any of the bodies.

"One of the oddest has to be Lionheart- he claimed she was using an odd sort of shield with a set of guns concealed within it- he described her throwing it into the bandits and it discharging in the center of them before returning to her hand. Part of me wonders if he was going senile even then..."

"And..." Ren asked slowly, "what did _you_ see?"

"Me?"

"What color do _you_ think her eyes were? What weapon did _you_ see her using?"

Port looked away, embarrassed. "Well, you see..."

Finally, he sighed. "I saw her eyes as brown- a deep, dark brown. And her weapon... I hesitate to say something so foolish..."

"I won't laugh," Ren assured him. "What was it?"

"I swear upon my life, my boy," Port began, "that she was firing upon the bandits with a blunderbuss- but not a normal one. Instead of an arm rest or normal handle, it had the blades of an axe, which she used to attack the bandits if they ever drew near."

"That sounds... rather impractical," Ren noted.

"Indeed," Port agreed. "It _would_ be rather difficult to aim... but that is what I saw nonetheless."

For a long while, silence fell. Ren drained the rest of his coffee, one sip at a time, waiting to see if Port had anything else to add. When he'd finished the mug without him saying anything, he laid it to rest on the table before standing. "Well, thank you very much for your time, professor. If that's everything you have to say, I should be going now..."

"I suppose there's... one more thing I could add," Port spoke up suddenly. "If you're willing to listen to my ramblings any longer."

"I'm sure anything you have to say would prove invaluable," Ren assured him, though he didn't sit down again.

"Well, you see, the thing is..." Port faltered, glancing around, as if suddenly embarrassed. He reached up and motioned for Ren to come closer. He did so, bending over to hear whatever final secret Port had to give.

Port's next words rang in his ears even as he left the café, returning into town and setting out back for home. So caught up on them was he that he failed to notice as a group of boys appeared behind him and began to follow, drawing closer and closer all the time, led, as ever, by a pompadour of ginger hair.

"It was a bright day when the bandits arrived, my boy, I swear it- approaching noon, with not a cloud in the sky. We could all see our shadows clearly upon the pavement, perfect and crisp.

"But the woman? I saw it, and confirmed it with everyone else who was there. She was casting _no_ shadow. No shadow at all."

 _XXXX_

Yes, that is shorter. That said, the next chapter looks to be on the longer side, so that will hopefully make up for it. Until then, please R&R, constructive criticism and flames alike embraced, Gamer4 out.


	31. Team Loser Wages a Rock War (C)

Gamer4 in. Welcome to what may well be the final chapter of the year. It seems fitting, in a way- at least we'd be going out on a high note. Here's hoping you enjoy, and let's get started!

Disclaimer: I'm forever, always by your side- whenever you need a friend, never far behind!

Chapter XXX

Team Loser Wages a Rock War

If asked which one of them Cardin Winchester hated the most, each member of Team Loser would likely point to themselves- with some solid reasoning behind each.

Jaune Arc, for instance, knew that Cardin saw his long hair, relatively weak upper body, and seeming lack of will as making him an easy target. Nora, however, could easily counter that didn't really count as _hatred-_ rather, he likely hated _her_ the most for the many things that came out of her mouth, which was, of course, perpetually five steps ahead of her brain.

Of course, Cardin's hatred for faunus was also legendary, potentially leading Blake to stake a claim to that oh-so-coveted position, but Weiss might reason that betrayal was worse. For instance, Cardin had once sought a friend in her- a rich, influential friend he could bond with through a mutual hatred of faunus, leading to a perceived betrayal when he found out that she not only _didn't_ hate faunus, but was actually friends with one.

Pyrrha could easily argue that her stunt in standing up to him on Velvet's behalf might have earned her Cardin's everlasting hatred, to which Yang may very well respond that, if that were the case, _she_ ought to take that spot, as, prior to Ruby's disappearance, she was the one who stood up to Cardin more than anyone else in the school combined.

Fine answers, all, but all ultimately incorrect. As much as Cardin hated each and every one of them, there was one other that he despised even more- Lie Ren.

The Rens and the Winchesters had been enemies practically from the moment Li Ren had arrived in Vale. While the Winchesters had lived there for generations, Li had originally discovered the town while stationed there as a veteran during the War for Remnant. He had fallen in love with the rolling fields surrounding the town and, the moment the war was over, returned and bought an old building that he had eventually repurposed into a fully functional farmstead, moving in with his wife, An.

Robert Winchester, father of Cardin, had also fought in the war. He hated Li then, and only came to despise him after the man moved into Vale and began running a more successful farm than his own. His crops were better, he was better at raising his animals, his prices tended to be lower, and the charity he offered to the less fortunate won him his way into many people's hearts, to boot. In Robert's mind, it had all been done to spite him, and when his son was born, he did everything he could to ensure that he grew up to hate the Rens as much as he did himself.

In fact, many of Cardin's biases came from his father, directly or otherwise. He had swiftly been taught how faunus were predisposed towards crime, to look down on those weaker than himself, and to view the Rens- and anyone like them- as hand-rubbing greedy merchants.

Perhaps the crown jewel of the cold war between the two families came when the Ren family's chickens mysteriously passed away. Li Ren, of course, had blamed Robert Winchester, who fervently denied any involvement with the tragedy. It was the police work of the sheriff at the time, Lena Oxton, however, that ultimately came to the conclusion that Robert was, indeed, guilty of the slaughter. Robert was forced to pay a large sum in restitution, which, needless to say, didn't endear him to the family any further.

"That bitch," he was heard to curse for several months afterwards. "Those chinks have her under their spell..."

Cardin hadn't appreciated it, either, not least because his father tended to take out his worse frustrations on him.

For a great long while, the fear of Lena stayed the Winchesters from causing any more trouble, but when she had eventually stepped down in favor of a new sheriff by the name of Gabriel Reyes, it had been the cue for Robert to start going on the offensive again. Gabriel was not nearly as dedicated to justice as his forerunner, and was mostly content to allow the two farmers on the outskirts of Vale sort out their problems on their own.

All this ultimately culminated in Cardin's grandest contribution to the war- the capturing and killing of Lie Ren's pet cat Trico.

Spurred on by his father's hatred, he had snuck over to the Ren household on several occasions, enough to notice the cat that always seemed to follow the son around. After that, it wasn't long before he realized what he would do.

He had bought some cat treats in central Vale, then returned to his sneaks over onto the Rens' territory, this time to deliver them to the feline, who was only too happy to accept the snacks offered by his new friend. Slowly but surely, Cardin earned the cat's trust, so that when the time finally came to scoop it up into his arms and carry it away, it didn't struggle at all, simply purring and rubbing its head against his shoulder.

He hadn't done the deed himself- he had no wish to bloody his own hands, on the off-chance that Gabriel Reyes proved more meddling than he suspected, but he had ensured the cat's death nonetheless. He had carted the poor creature over to the house of one Russell Thrush, a boy with a rather unusual hobby, known only to Cardin. He had delivered the cat into Russell's eagerly awaiting carrier, telling him that he didn't care how the cat died, just so long as it was done. Russell had smiled that chilling smile of his, and swore that he'd see to it.

Three days later, Russell returned the cat's body to him, all signs of life wiped away, limbs stiffened by rigor mortis.

Cardin had returned home proudly to show the cat off to his father.

Robert Winchester had been in one of his moods that night, but had brightened perceptibly upon seeing what his son had done. Instead of punishing him, as he'd initially intended, he rewarded the child with his first beer from his stash, clapping him on the back and applauding him. Cardin had hardly felt so good as he did that night.

Lie Ren had been a thorn in his side for so long. He always showed up at the worst possible times, and by some bizarre miracle, there was always someone nearby to help the boy enforce his will. His efforts to find that spaz in pink in the museum? Thwarted by Lie Ren. Almost a full year later, accosting Jaune in Vale's residential district? _How did the Rens always know where to find them?_

But this time... this time, at long last, he had the upper hand.

Up ahead of him, he could see Lie Ren walking along the road just outside of Vale, near the outskirts of the Emerald Forest. Try as he might, he could not spy a single other person nearby, ready to jump out and protect the boy. And him... he had the rest of Team Cardinal with him, ready to jump his most hated enemy and finally give him the beating he deserved.

Just the previous night, Robert Winchester had come home angrier than usual, and once again acted out the anger inspired by the Rens on his son. Cardin unconsciously rubbed his shoulder, silently swearing to return that pain to Lie Ren a hundredfold.

"Get a good look, boys," he whispered to his teammates. "This is the last time you'll see him looking so pretty..."

"Let's get him," Russell nodded, that sick smile making its way over his features once more.

"No!" Cardin hissed quietly. "We need to sneak up... if we don't, the coward will just run away."

The others nodded in agreement, and Cardin took the lead, guiding them closer and closer to Lie Ren, as stealthily as they could managed. Ren was walking towards the sun, keeping their shadows out of sight. It was a still day, so they did their best not to make too much noise with their footsteps. Slowly, but steadily, they drew closer... closer...

At the last second, Ren paused and turned to look behind him. Immediately, his eyes widened upon seeing how close Team CRDL was to him- how close they'd drawn without him noticing.

Cardin was surprised himself, but wasted no time in hiding it behind a smug, cocky grin. "You know, chink," he greeted, "I never _did_ get to tell you that interesting fact at the museum last year... how about you hear it now?"

Ren didn't stick around to hear any interesting facts from Cardin- he turned and ran instead.

CRDL was hot on his tail, following him as he took the first available path down the nearby hill and into the Emerald Forest.

XXXX

Ren paid hardly any attention to where he was going as he tore through the foliage and underbrush. He was silently berating himself for allowing his antagonists to draw so near without noticing- it had left him in quite the nasty position. He was a fast runner, but he'd be a fool to deny to himself that he had issues with stamina. Over short distances, he could outpace them with ease. Eventually, though, he'd have to stop and breath, and when that happened...

He threw a swift glance behind himself, judging how close CRDL was. At the very least, he thought, he shouldn't be in their line of sight. Looking up, he spotted a tree- a nice tall tree that he thought he wouldn't have too much trouble climbing. Wasting no time, he grappled up into the lower branches, from which he continued to climb higher and higher, hoping desperately to lose them.

CRDL slowed their run to a halt as they realized they'd lost their quarry. "Where'd he go?" Dove wondered out loud.

"Don't worry," Cardin growled, eyes roving around, but thankfully, not up. "We'll find him."

Ren closed his eyes- he had to remain calm. Unthinkingly, he activated his semblance, feeling his dread seep away to be replaced by serenity. Slow, deep breaths... they wouldn't find him up here, and even if they did, they'd hardly be able to climb up to where he was.

"Here, chinky chinky chinky..."

Peace... calm... serenity. Peace... calm... serenity.

"Hello, Renny."

Ren started- a cool, feminine voice had sounded off so close to him he could practically feel the breath on his ear. He spun around- he was still alone up here, but he caught sight of another dash of color. Looking closer, a sudden adrenaline rush heightening all his senses, he saw her on the ground, grinning at him just out of sight of Team CRDL. The same woman from before- the woman he'd seen with the nuckelavee, grinning up at him.

"Long time, no see."

He could barely see her lips move, but her voice was as crystal clear as if she were right behind him. He bit his lip- what now? Come down from the tree and try to warn CRDL? They'd hardly believe him, and he'd likely get beaten half to death for his trouble! But still... he could hardly do _nothing..._ could he?

"Hey, chink!" came Cardin's voice again, a more mocking tone entering in. "It's about time I told you my little secret! I killed your cat!"

Ren's blood froze. Momentarily, he forgot all about the woman, turning his eyes back to Cardin, down below him. All his fear was suddenly being overwritten with rage.

It was almost as if Cardin could sense it. "Yeah, what do you think of _that,_ chink? _I killed your little cat!_ What you gonna do ab-"

"YOU BASTARD!"

Ren found himself losing all control, coming down from his hiding place and leaping from the tree, stomping onto Cardin as hard as he could- the larger boy crumped to the ground, where Ren delivered three punches in rapid succession to his face. "YOU KILLED TRICO, YOU BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU! _I'LL KILL YOU!"_

He felt rough hands grab him and slam him into the very tree he'd just been hiding under, and his anger swiftly faded back into terror. Russell Thrush and Dove Bronzewing had him now, Sky Lark watching from afar as Cardin rose back to his feet, looking _very_ unhappy as he nursed the bruises already forming on his face. "You're gonna regret that, chink..."

Ren rapidly glanced between his captors, searching for a way out. He could think of only one thing- he could only hope that it would work.

He began focusing again, allowing his semblance to spread throughout his body, bringing him calm... but hoping to send it towards his captors as well.

"What's up with you, chink?" Russell asked, laughing. "Hey, Dove, you see this- guy?"

To his own surprise as much as anyone else's, Dove found his hands relaxing as a feeling of peace washed over him- a greater peace than he'd ever felt in his life.

A peace that was quickly snatched away from him when Ren wrenched free of his one remaining captor and knocked him to the ground before continuing his sprint.

"What was _that?"_ Cardin glowered down at him.

"I... I..."

"I swear, if we lose him because of that little stunt of yours, it's on your head!"

Cardin and Russell continued their run, leaving Sky to lift Dove from the ground before they fell into line behind.

XXXX

Ren's feet propelled him faster than ever across the ground- how could he have been so _stupid_ as to blow his cover? Even if he could find another tree to climb, they'd know where to look this time around.

He made a very conscious effort to steer himself away from the part of the forest he'd seen the woman in- he still wasn't certain whether she was real or hallucination, but he didn't intend to take any chances.

CRDL was growing closer- he could hear them. His stunt with his semblance wasn't enough to throw them off- he'd have to think of something new.

Quite unconsciously, he found his feet directing him towards the sound of running water. Part of his mind seemed to hear the running of the nearby Haven River as a series of words- _Come this way... come this way, and you'll be safe..._

At long last, he burst into a clearing, through the center of which ran the river in question. On one side was the Emerald Forest, from which he'd just emerged, and on the other, a field of remarkably long grass. Just on the other bank stood six others- five young women and a young man just about his own age, known to him by sight more than anything else. Each of them seemed to be ready for something, piles of rocks by their sides, a stone in each of their hands- but none of them attacked him.

A warm feeling washed over him at the sight of them- a feeling he wouldn't understand for many years, when he finally recognized it- it was as though they were

XXXX

waiting for me." Ren paused to take another drink of gin, and to take stock of his audience so far.

Nora and Yang were both listening raptly, while Jaune and Pyrrha continued to hold their arms around him- still trying to grant him comfort after learning of Blake's death. Weiss was the first to speak.

"It was like we were... waiting for you?"

"That's the best way I know how to put it," Ren nodded. "Do you remember what I'm talking about? The Apocalyptic Rock Fight?"

There was a general shaking of heads, but suddenly, Yang looked up, meeting his eyes directly. "I th-think _I_ do," she nodded. "July 3rd, 799- the Apocalyptic Ruh-Rock Fight. We w-w-were just getting out for s-some f-f-fresh air." She glanced at Nora. "We'd just b-b-been up in my room non-stop f-f-for two or three d-days, remember?"

" _After the House!_ " Nora snapped her fingers in sudden remembrance. "It's coming back to me, now! We were trying to figure out what It actually was, right?"

"We c-came up with a f-f-few theories, t-t-too," Yang nodded. "Th-that's where the others f-f-found us... I was g-g-going through some m-more b-b-books, and _you_ were

XXXX

keeping watch by the window, her hands raised over her eyes like makeshift binoculars. Suddenly, Nora started, blinking rapidly as she turned back to her friend. "Yang! Yang!" she alerted the blond hastily.

"Wh-what is it?" Yang asked quickly. "H-H-H- _Her?_ "

"No, it's the others!" Nora announced.

Yang leapt to her feet and dashed over to the window, where, sure enough, she could see a small procession making their way to her front door- Weiss Schnee at the front, Jaune Arc not far behind, Pyrrha Nikos in third, and Blake Belladonna bringing up the rear.

Not long after, they heard the sound of a doorbell. Taiyang answered.

"Oh, hey, Weissy!" he greeted- familiar enough with all of his daughter's friends not to ask too many questions when they showed up uninvited. "Here to see Yang, I'm guessing?"

"Indeed," came Weiss's voice, curt as ever. "Would she happen to be here today?"

"Yeah, her and Nora are upstairs- have been for a couple days now. Hardly ever come out."

"Nora, too?" Pyrrha asked hopefully.

"Yeah- I thought it was a little weird, but, you know... girls these days..."

"May we come in?" Weiss requested.

"Yeah, sure," Taiyang agreed. "I can get some tea on, if any of you would like some."

"That would be lovely, thank you," Pyrrha accepted.

"Herbal, if you don't mind," Blake interjected.

"I think I've got some of those..." Taiyang mused.

The door shut, and the sound of footsteps echoed up the stairs before Yang's door finally opened, revealing the rest of Team Loser on the portal's other side.

For a moment, they stared at each other, Yang and Nora on one side, all the others on the opposite. Finally, Weiss spoke, fighting to hide her concern behind anger. "And where have _you_ been, Yang Xiao Long?"

"It's not often we don't hear from you for two days," Blake agreed. "What have you been _doing_ up here?"

"Yeah... sorry about that, guys," Nora piped up, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment. "Y'see, the thing about that is..."

"We've b-b-been researching the w-w-woman," Yang interrupted, cutting right to the chase. "Trying to f-figure out wh-what she is."

"What she is?" Blake repeated.

"We went into the House on Vickery Lane," Nora explained.

"You went _where?!"_ Weiss's voice rose in pitch until it was practically a screech. "Why on _earth_ did you go _there?_ "

"I th-th-thought I might f-find R-R-R-Ruby there," Yang confessed heavily.

A dark silence returned as everyone's faces fell. At long last, Jaune spoke up, practically stuttering himself as he asked what no one else dared. "And... did you find anything?"

"N-N-Not her, obviously," Yang shook her head. "But we f-f-found... we f-f-f-found..."

"The woman," Nora took the burden off her shoulders. "The woman was there, and she attacked us. We just barely got away on Bumblebee."

"And you've... you've just been up here since?" Pyrrha asked, concern etched into her voice.

The girls in front of them looked... terrible. Their skin was pale, save for red patches and rings around their eyes- it was pretty clear the last couple nights hadn't been restful for them... assuming they'd slept at all. While neither had been the picture of grace in the first place, there as a certain clumsiness to their movements now that further indicated just how far gone they were.

"D-d-doing research!" Yang repeated, motioning to several piles of books surrounding- and on top of- her bed. "W-w-we're close to an answer n-n-now, I c-can _f-feel it."_

"Jauney," Nora interjected, glancing over at the single boy in their midst. "You seem... pretty comfortable with everything..."

"Well, I... I... I kind of had a run-in with her myself," Jaune explained nervously.

"You _did?"_ Nora screeched, only to be interrupted by a frantic-looking Yang, who seized her fellow blond and began shaking him violently.

"Wh-wh-what happened? Wh-what did she l-l-look like? How d-d-did you escape?"

"Umm... blood... sink... Mom-" Jaune attempted to explain through the rattling of his brain against his skull.

"Ease off of him, Yang," Blake interrupted her interrogation, lightly tapping her on the shoulder. "He can't answer you if he can't think."

Yang sighed, slowly releasing Jaune and backing away. "S-s-sorry... it's j-just... this is r-r-really important, you know?"

"I understand," Jaune nodded. "She was in my mirror, but... she sprayed blood all over my bathroom. We were just at my house- the others helped me clean up."

"And Blake finally told us her story," Pyrrha added, motioning for Blake to take center stage.

"Right," Blake nodded, looking as though she hated having to recall the incident again. "She turned into a dog, and chased me... through the old fairgrounds."

It was a mark of how seriously Yang was taking this situation that she didn't take the opportunity to make a cat joke at Blake's expense. "W-well... the b-blood sounds a l-l-little odd... but the d-dog... that's right in l-l-line with my thuh-theory..."

Blake's concern intensified. She spoke up, attempting to steer the conversation away from the woman. "Yang... how much sleep have you gotten since you went in the House?"

"N-Not much at all," Yang readily admitted. "Wh-why?"

Blake slowly turned to the rest of Team Loser, seeing her sentiment reflected in their eyes. "Because... well..."

Yang's eyes narrowed as she seemingly put the puzzle pieces together. "Blake, if y-y-you're _really_ g-going to ask me to st-st-stop..."

"Of _course_ I won't ask you to stop!" Blake shook her head fervently. "I know how useless that would be. I just... think it would be best if you slowed down a bit."

Yang's face formed into a glower. "R-R-Ruby doesn't have _t-t-time_ for us to s-s-slow down!"

"I think I'm with Blake on this one," Jaune practically whispered. "I mean... you can't really do much half-asleep like this..."

Yang closed her eyes lightly. "I s-s-see what you're saying... but th-this isn't some st-st-stupid school assignment!" she opened her eyes, revealing them to have turned red. "I c-c-can't just s-set it aside!"

"And we're not asking you to!" Blake stepped right in front of her. "We've followed you around for a whole year now looking for her- do you really think we'll jump ship now that we finally have a lead? We're just asking for you not to let this thing _control_ you! If you run out and get yourself killed by this woman, who'll be left to save Ruby?"

"D-do you n-not _understand?!_ " Yang yelled. "It's duh-down to _us! We're_ th-the only ones l-l-left who can s-s-save her!"

Blake narrowed her eyes. "I'm afraid _you're_ the one who doesn't understand, Yang." She crossed the room to the window and pointed to the street. "If this... this _woman_ were to walk into your house right now, what would you do?"

"F-f-fight her!" Yang answered immediately.

"And lose!" Blake returned immediately, and, in an action that summoned gasps from the onlookers, shoved Yang towards the bed.

"I c-c-can do it!" Yang growled, returning immediately and returning the shove. In a far departure from normal, she hardly moved Blake an inch- her lack of sleep shone through once more. "W-we can st-stop her!"

"How can you stop _her_ if you can't even stop _me?_ " Blake volleyed back with another shove- this time sending Yang sprawling onto her bed, where she looked up, fury in her eyes. She leapt back to her feet- only to be met by a hug from the girl in black.

"We're not asking you to stop," Blake repeated again. "Just get some rest. For yourself... for us... and for Ruby."

Yang looked around at the rest of the team- Jaune still seemed surprised, but all the others seemed to be nodding along with what Blake was saying- even Nora.

Smiling weakly, she addressed this last. "Et t-t-tu, Nora?"

"I'll be honest," Nora admitted, "I'm feeling a little sleepy myself."

Blake backed up a bit. "It's the fourth of July in a few days, and you know how my parents are. Get some sleep, and I'll save the best fireworks for you."

"Take those few days off," Weiss added, "and it'll be easier to get back to business the day after."

Slowly, Yang nodded. "S-s-sorry... I'm s-s-s-sorry... just... really need... to f-find... R-Ruby..."

"And we will," Blake whispered reassuringly. "We will."

Yang slowly lowered onto her bed, and it wasn't long before it the room was filled with snores. Blake smiled.

"Yeah, I think... I think I'll go ahead and catch some z's myself," Nora added, plopping down on the carpet next to her friend. "Nighty-night..."

And soon, she, too, was in dreamland.

"Is it alright to leave her there?" Jaune asked uncertainly.

"Oh, she sleeps over at Yang's house all the time without warning," Weiss brushed aside. "This time shouldn't be all that different."

"For three days, though?"

"Yes," Blake nodded. "For three days."

They all turned and headed downstairs, where Taiyang awaited them with six cups of tea. "Soup's on!" he smiled brightly. Lowering the smile, he added, "Is everything okay? I heard raised voices."

"Everything's fine," Blake assured him. "Yang and Nora are just taking a nap."

"I'll save some tea for them." Tai returned to smiling as he picked up two of the teacups and returned them to the kitchen.

Jaune shuddered as soon as he was out of earshot. "Yang can be scary, huh?"

"She's not usually like that," Weiss spoke in defense of her leader. "Well... to bullies, I suppose, but to her friends, she's not usually like that."

"This whole thing must really be getting to her," Blake agreed. "We should have another meet-up soon- get her out of the house, get some fresh air. Maybe the day before the fourth."

"Yeah, about the fourth," Pyrrha spoke up. "What did you mean by, 'you know my parents?'"

"Oh, my parents love the fourth," Blake smiled. "They also happen to know where to get all the best fireworks- it's a sight to see. Maybe I can smuggle some firecrackers out of the house, and we can set them off in the Emerald Forest the day before. Explosions- ought to make Yang happy."

A chuckle went around the room.

"So... can you all make it?"

"If I start laying out my plans now, I should be able to clear up some time," Weiss nodded curtly.

"Mom'll probably be at work most of the day- consider me there," Jaune agreed.

"And my mother pretty much lets me wander- as long as I'm back in time for meals," Pyrrha concluded. "Don't worry- for Yang, I'll be there."

"Right," Blake nodded. "Now we just need to clear it with the dynamic duo themselves, and we're golden."

XXXX

Sure enough, three days later, the 3rd of July, found Team Loser meeting up at their usual spot- A Simple Wok noodle stand- and heading off towards the Emerald Forest.

"Y-y-you know," Yang mused as they marched through the streets, "w-we n-never got around t-t-to initiating Vomit B-B-Boy... I g-guess _this_ c-could count."

"Considering what happened during _my_ initiation," Pyrrha recalled, "I'm fine with that."

"Why? What happened?" Jaune asked.

"We were telling scary stories around the campfire- Oobleck found us and chewed us out," Pyrrha explained.

"Harsh," Jaune cringed. "Did you get some pre-emptive detentions?"

"Nah, he was actually pretty cool about it," Nora waved aside, skipping along seemingly without a care in the world. "Didn't even tell our parents- lucky for Weissy."

"That would have been... _inconvenient,_ for certain," Weiss agreed.

Blake was glad to see Yang looking far healthier today. Her eyes were still red, but they no longer stood out as starkly as they had a couple days earlier, and a certain spring in her step that had been sorely lacking before had returned. She was looking far more like the old leader they knew and loved. Ditto for her plucky sidekick Nora.

Pretty soon, they found themselves descending a hill towards the forest. "This isn't the usual way," Pyrrha noted.

"W-w-well, I f-figured since y-you two are n-new to the Forest, w-we might as well t-t-take the scenic route," Yang smiled back at them. "You g-g-got the f-fireworks, Blakey?"

Blake nodded, reaching into a pocket containing a handful of particularly loud firecrackers she'd managed to sneak away from her parents' stash. She doubted they'd get too mad if they heard she was using them with Team Loser, but still, best to avoid a discussion altogether. Prevention and cure, and all that.

It was a beautiful summer day as they marched along through the foliage, light dappling through the trees, lush green all around. Whenever they drew near to the Haven river, its quiet babbling was a welcome backdrop to their little nature hike. Yang and Nora were at the lead, guiding their path. Blake was not far behind, leaving Jaune and Pyrrha between herself and Weiss, who brought up the rear.

Weiss was quite happy with how things were going so far, until she felt a harsh cold sweep over her. Contrary to her name, she did not quite appreciate the cold- she quickly started looking around for the cause.

Off in the distance, she swore she could see an animal moving through the underbrush- a large creature, like a wolf or a bear. She drew closer, but didn't dare raise the alarm in case it was nothing.

She practically screamed when she got a good look at its eyes- one seemed to be a bright pink, the other a dark brown.

Instead of screaming, however, she found herself reaching for her purse- and the inhaler it contained. She took several pulls on it in quick succession. Pyrrha turned and saw, quickly backtracking for her, Jaune not far behind.

"Something wrong, Weiss?" she asked.

"Are you seeing something?" Jaune added nervously.

Weiss looked behind them again- but the creature was gone. "No... nothing... just an asthma attack..."

This was supposed to be a day for Yang to calm down and relax- she refused to ruin it over her own mind's hallucinations.

Pyrrha and Jaune seemed to accept this as a rational explanation, and they fell back in line.

Finally, they found a nice spot to rest their legs- a large clearing surrounding the Haven River, tall trees on one side, tall grass on the other. They stopped for a rest among the tall grass before continuing towards whatever end goal Yang and Nora had in mind.

"I don't suppose anyone thought to bring snacks?" Nora asked hopefully, glancing around.

"Got you covered," Pyrrha smiled, reaching into the bag slung over her shoulder, passing a bag of trail mix over to the girl in pink.

"Not _quite_ what I was hoping for," Nora pouted slightly before brightening again. "But still! Mrs. Stay Puft saves the day again!"

"Why thank you, Nora," Pyrrha smiled, inclining her head in a sarcastic sort of bow.

"Don't just pick through and eat the chocolate," Jaune smirked at her, prompting Yang to throw back her head and laugh.

"L-l-looks like the n-new guy's got you r-read already, N-Nora!"

"You guys have no faith in me, do you?" Nora returned to pouting... as her other hand rifled through the trail mix in search of chocolate.

Weiss continued smiling, even as her eyes trailed back to the dark trees they'd just emerged from. She hated to bring it up early, but something about that hallucination earlier... at least, she _hoped_ it was a hallucination...

"So, Yang," she asked gently. "What exactly did you find?"

"F-f-find?" Yang asked.

"In those books of yours- you said you had a theory."

The mood dropped perceptibly. "We're not supposed to be talking about that," Blake objected.

"I know, I was just... curious," Weiss explained away, not keen on revealing the real reason she'd taken her sudden interest.

Yang closed her eyes. "D-d-don't worry, B-Blakey... I'm st-still calm." And when she opened her eyes again, they were still a cool lilac. "As t-t-to my theory... I th-think it's a t-t-tanetane."

"A what?" Jaune asked, nonplused- but Weiss seemed to understand, as she dove back into her purse, panic in her eyes, to take another deep pull on her inhaler.

"It seems Weiss knows," Blake noted dryly. "Care to explain, Weiss?"

Weiss nodded over her inhaler before finally returning it to its resting place. "Yes... sure... it's a monster of Atlesian folklore, a somewhat uncommon western myth... the story goes that there are creatures lurking in the dark places of the world that feed on fear... they can read your mind and transform into what you dread the most. I... I've heard some stories about them, but I never really thought they were _real..._ "

"B-but doesn't that s-s-sound like... l-like whatever _this_ th-thing is?" Yang pointed out. "Th-think about it! P-P-Pyrrha saw a w-weeping angel, b-b-because she'd j-j-just been watching Professor What! N-N-Nora and I s-s-saw the Salem W-Witch, and sh-she was the only p-p-part of th-that movie that was actually s-scary!"

"You saw Ruby dying again..." Blake realized.

"And Blakey saw a dog because she's a kitty, right?" Nora eagerly jumped in.

"Beep beep, Nora," Blake sighed. "...Though, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a fear of dogs..."

"I mean, if you're scared of _Zwei,"_ Weiss smirked at her.

"Zwei?" Jaune asked, glancing at Nora, who simply shrugged.

"Yang's pet dog!" Nora chirped brightly. "He's with her Uncle Qrow now, though. Weiss _loooooooves_ him! Blakey, not so much."

Blake scowled. "I said beep _beep,_ Nora."

Jaune chuckled, but turned back to Weiss. "So... if this thing's a tanetane... do the legends say anything about... you know... how to kill it?"

Weiss shook her head. "The stories are always about the fear they cause- there's not much about how to actually get _rid_ of them."

" _I_ f-found something," Yang interjected, drawing everyone else's attention. "Only one b-b-book that mentioned t-t-tanetanes actually t-t-talked about it, but... it's cuh-called a Fire Walk."

"A Fire Walk?" Weiss asked, rasing her eyebrows. "I can't say I've ever heard of such a thing..."

"How is walking on fire supposed to kill a monster?" Nora asked, helping herself to some more chocolate.

"It's n-n-not _literal,_ " Yang explained. "It's m-more like a r-ritual- a s-s-sort of b-b-battle of s-strength and w-willpower b-b-between a w-warrior and the t-t-tanetane. The b-b-book said that c-certain t-trained warriors w-were chosen when a t-tanetane appeared, and th-they'd begin t-t-training f-for the Walk. E-every now and again, they'd g-g-get whipped, and if th-they d-didn't d-draw blood, they were r-r-ready. S-supposedly, they'd g-go to the tanetane, perform the r-r-ritual, and if th-they succeeded, the t-t-tanetane disappeared."

"And what does this ritual entail?" Weiss asked.

"The b-b-book didn't say," Yang shook her head regretfully.

"Well, that's _something_ at least," Blake pointed out. "Let's leave it there, today- is everyone else ready to-"

She stopped speaking abruptly, and listening closely, it was no wonder why. Listening closely, they could all hear screaming voices coming at them through the woods. Very familiar voices.

"Curdle!" Jaune leapt to his feet, followed not long after by the others. "Come on, let's go!"

"N-no," Yang scowled, standing her ground. "R-rocks."

"Rocks?" Pyrrha asked, tilting her head slightly.

Yang brandished her hands at the ground around them- they'd chosen to sit in a rather rocky area. " _Rocks!"_ she repeated. "Ammo!"

Suddenly, they understood, and began gathering up as many rocks as they could carry, building piles, filling their pockets, and preparing to throw.

The voices drew closer, and as they reached a peak, the six stood together, forming a sort of wall on their side of the river, just about ready to throw when the first figure appeared from the trees.

Nora recognized him first. "Wait!" she called to the others. "Hold your fire!"

The others looked closely- sure enough, this boy was not a member of Team Curdle. He was shorter and more slender. He stopped on the other side of the bank, only for a moment, as he caught sight of the Team and their missiles.

Team CRDL sounded off again behind him, and he practically dove into the water, making his way to the other side as fast as possible.

"Help me... please, help me..."

"You're the boy from the museum!" Nora's eyes widened. Smiling, she raised her rock again, taking aim at the forest. "It's about time I repaid the favor, I guess..."

"You helped me, too," Jaune added, smiling as he reached out a hand and helped the other boy up. "Don't worry."

The foliage shook, and Team Loser adopted their stance again. The Forest didn't have any more tricks for them- this time, it really _was_ Team CRDL.

All four of them screeched to a halt on the opposite shore. A sick smile graced Cardin's features. "Oh, these guys, huh?" He began pointing to them, one by one. "The spaz, the Ice Queen, the furry, the stutterer, the fatty, and the fagot." He gave a very humorless chuckle. "You sure know how to pick 'em, chink."

"F-fuck off, Cardin," Yang growled.

"I don't think I will," Cardin crossed his arms. "I've got bones to pick with all of you... but not today. Today, I just want him." He pointed to the boy currently standing alongside Pyrrha and Jaune. "Hand him over, and I'll give each of you freaks a week off."

"No deal!" Pyrrha piped up, staring him down through her emerald eyes. "You can leave now, or leave covered in bruises."

"Tough talk coming from you," Cardin snarled. "Though, I guess I didn't bring my harpoon, today- maybe I _should_ back off from you."

"You take that back!" Jaune stepped up, glaring in his old tormentor's direction.

Pyrrha tapped a hand on his shoulder- "Relax, Jaune, it's not _that_ big a-"

"Oh, trying to get into her pants, Arc? Excited you've finally found a girl with low enough standards to want you?"

Pyrrha's eyes suddenly filled with fire, and with a scream of rage, she tossed a rock in Cardin's direction, striking him in the skull, causing him to stagger back, a look of shock on his face.

Jaune followed suit, tossing his first rock, landing a hit squarely in Dove Bronzewing's chest.

Cardin turned to his team, fury radiating from him like an aura. "Well, don't just stand there like idiots! Get some rocks! Fight back!"

Grinning as she realized what was happening, Nora let out a war cry- "ROCK WAAAAAAAR!"- before suddenly receiving a hit to the face courtesy of Russel Thrush.

Thus began the event that would forever go down in Team Loser's history as the Apocalyptic Rock Fight. Rocks flew thick and fast across the river from both sides, smacking each other in the face, chests, and... lower regions.

Yang and Nora fought with a very similar style, focusing on power above all else. As a result, it was seldom that they landed a hit, but when they _did,_ it _hurt._ Every strike they landed sent their opponent reeling.

Blake and Ren, meanwhile, favored a more focused approach, landing many hits in rapid succession, and while they weren't backed up with _quite_ the power Yang and Nora had, the same spots on Team Curdle's bodies were beginning to grow tired with getting struck again and again so many times.

Pyrrha and Weiss favored precision as well, but weren't quite as fast as the darker-haired teammates. Not as fast as them or as powerful as the bruisers, they walked a more central road, meeting comfortably in the middle.

Jaune, meanwhile, was an out-and-out wild card, focused more on throwing as many rocks as possible, without real regard to where they hit or with how much strength. He was a threat in a whole different way- unlike with the others, his spontaneity made him nigh-impossible to out-predict or dodge, especially with six others to worry about.

Not to say that Curdle wasn't getting in their own licks. Cardin fought very much in the same manner as Yang and Nora, putting all his strength into each throw, and thus causing heavy damage with every hit he managed to land- few and far between as those might be. Dove was more in Jaune's class- he was so taken aback by their prey actually fighting back that he had no brainpower left to focus on strength or accuracy, simply picking up rock after rock and throwing them as fast as he could.

Russell was probably the one keeping his head the best, but at the same time, he was already considering leaving. He was no coward, but he knew when to fold them. It didn't take a genius to see that things were very much tilted in Team Loser's favor- they outnumbered them seven-to-four, had had more time to prepare, and had more cool heads to boot. No, he was no coward, but when it came to a fight he simply _couldn't_ win...

"I'm done here," he shrugged, dropping his rocks and turning to walk away down the riverbank. "See you 'round."

"YOU GET BACK HERE, YOU BASTARD!" Cardin shouted at him, to no effect- and a second later, Jaune had managed to smack a rock into his jaw, driving Russell's abandonment entirely from his mind.

Perhaps the ultimate irony, then, is that CRDL's most valuable fighter in the Apocalyptic Rock Fight was also the one with the least interest _in_ it- Sky Lark had rapidly come to the same conclusion that Russell had. This fight was simply unwinnable. On top of that, he had no personal grudge against any of them the way Cardin did- he only followed him out of fear that he'd be the next victim if he didn't. So, here he was, in a battle that he knew he couldn't win, and from which he didn't stand to gain anything even if he miraculously _did_ win.

However, this perspective also offered him a level of coolheadedness absent from every other fighter- if he was going to go out, he may as well do the best he could before he did. Of all of the fighters present, he was the only one to not miss a single throw that day, as he took the time to carefully calculate each stone he threw. He didn't put as much strength behind his throws as Cardin, and he _certainly_ wasn't throwing them as fast as Dove, but each stone he threw had a noticeable effect on the battle. An absurd thought made its way into his mind- if he kept this up, he might just turn the tide- he and his team might actually _win_ this...

Then he threw a rock at Yang,.

He had been aiming at her face, but she leaned forward at the last second to put more strength behind one of her throws, redirecting the rock's path from her face... to her scalp.

The stone more _grazed_ her than actually hit her, but it was close enough to leave a long cut, from which blood promptly began flowing, staining the top of her beloved blond hair a deep scarlet.

Abruptly, almost as one, Weiss, Blake, and Nora all dropped the rocks they'd been about to throw, turning instead to stare at their teammate in horror. It was so odd that even Pyrrha, Ren, Jaune, and what remained of Team CRDL turned to watch as well.

"Oh, dear," Weiss practically whispered, pulling away.

"This isn't good," Blake agreed, following her example.

"HIDE ME, MRS. STAY-PUFT!" Nora yelped, ducking behind Pyrrha as if trying to use her as a shield.

"Why?" Pyrrha asked, confused. "What's going-"

"Youuuuu..." Yang interrupted all of them, lowering her head and closing her eyes. "BASTAAAAAARD!"

As she yelled, she raised her head again, her eyes returning to a bloody, fiery red. She cast all her rocks aside and locked eyes with Sky... before stepping forward, wading out into the no-man's-land of the river.

Sky gulped, but a quick glance at Cardin showed him clearly that he would _not_ live it down if he turned away from this challenge. He dropped his rocks as well, and began wading out into the river to meet her.

Yang leaned back, readying her fist, and delivered a single punch- it connected with Sky Lark's face and sent him splaying out onto the ground on the opposite bank.

"Oh, man... oh, man!"

Unlike Russell Thrush, Dove Bronzewing _was_ a coward, and seeing what had just happened turned his urge to fight into an urge to flee. Without stopping to think about what Cardin would say, he turned and rushed off in the same direction Russell had gone earlier.

Sky was very clearly winded as he rose to his feet, but when he turned and saw Dove running, he didn't hesitate to give chase. "Wait- Dove, no! Come back!"

Pretty soon, it was just Team Loser... and Cardin Winchester.

Yang didn't bother to leave the river as she turned to her team's old tormentor. "The F-Forest is _ours,_ now. Leave _n-now,_ and _never_ come back."

It wasn't a request.

Cardin continued snarling, even as he took a step backward. "And if I don't?"

"Six on one?" Yang pointed out, glancing over her shoulder. "N-not good odds. You _w-want_ to end up in the h-hospital?"

"Seven," came another voice- everyone turned to see Lie Ren rising back to his feet- he had bent over to pick up a large, oval stone, which he was now casually tossing up into the air and catching, again and again, furious eyes locked with Cardin's.

Cardin began making tracks after the rest of his team, but he didn't break eye contact with the Losers. "I'll kill you all- I'll-"

"Kill us all, kill us all, kill us all," Nora mocked, raising her hand and moving it in imitation of a flapping mouth. "Seriously, dude, broken record!"

Cardin looked ready to spit poison. Instead, he broke into a run.

Silence fell.

Nora broke it. "Weeee... DID IT! VICTORY _SCREECH!_ " She began doing an odd dance, all while making an equally-odd ululating sound.

Yang smiled as she turned back to her team and waded back to their side of the river.

The anger disappeared from the face of the boy they'd just saved. "Thanks," he smiled gently at his rescuers. "I appreciate it, but... they'll be gunning for you now."

"No change, then," Jaune clapped him on the shoulder. "We've never gotten along- in fact, I'm pretty sure he already hated us more than he did you."

Ren smiled at the memory.

"S-s-so, what's your name, b-bud?" Yang asked, approaching him.

Ren turned to her, extending his hand. "Ren- Lie Ren."

"Oooohhhh, he's as cool as ever!" Nora yelped, completely disregarding the hand and pulling him into a hug instead. "Thank you so much for saving me last year!"

"I... can't... breath..."

"Sorry!" Nora smiled sheepishly, releasing him and backing away.

As silence fell once more, everyone smiling at the new arrival, and he at them, a sense of peace and calm seemed to wash over them all. They could practically hear a voice whispering in their minds- _We're all here now. It's going to be okay- we're all here now._

Out loud, it was Blake that spoke next, reaching into her pocket again and producing a handful of firecrackers. "We were about to light some of these off... care to join us?"

Ren answered simply with a smile.

 _XXXX_

Here's hoping that this chapter lights up your holidays a bit- I plan on coming back early next year with the next chapter. In the meantime, if you want to give me the perfect Christmas present... well, what can I say, other than please R&R, constructive criticism and flames both accepted, Gamer4 out!


	32. Lie Ren Makes Some Pancakes (C)

Gamer4 in- and happy new year! It's looking to be a good one, based on the upcoming release of It Chapter 2 alone- so, to the end of finishing this story before that movie comes out, let's dive back into it!

Disclaimer: If the stars all fall, and there's no more light, and the moon crumbles, it will be alright!

Chapter XXXI

Lie Ren Makes Some Pancakes

Ren paused for a moment to take another drink of gin before looking back up at his friends- more specifically, Yang, who had just helped him fill in the blanks of the events surrounding the Apocalyptic Rock Fight. Smiling slightly, he asked, "So, can I assume it's starting to come back to you?"

"In f-fragments," Yang nodded. "A b-bit at a t-time."

"I didn't expect it to come back all at once," Ren nodded. Looking towards the center of the table, he gave a light laugh. "I see we're out of pancakes."

"Are you really surprised?" Jaune smiled. "Nora's right over there."

"Are you trying to say something, Arc?" Nora narrowed her eyes in faux outrage.

"Nothing, nothing!" Jaune raised his arms in mock surrender. "I'm just saying that I'm pretty sure over half the pancakes ended up on your plate!"

Nora pouted a little as the others laughed at her expense.

As he laughed, Ren rose to his feet. "Luckily, I anticipated this- I'll go get some more batter on the griddle. Would anyone like some milk?"

"I could go for some milk!" Nora chirped, perking up immediately.

"Yes- funnily enough, liquor doesn't go quite as well with pancakes as milk does," Pyrrha concurred.

"I'm sure we have some in the fridge," Ren nodded before turning and heading back into the break room.

In his wake, Nora slowly turned to Yang. "Yang, I'm... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten so angry..." Looking down slightly, she continued. "I shouldn't have said that about Blake."

Yang's eyes lowered as well. "I kn-know you d-didn't mean it," she assured her friend. "I sh-shouldn't have l-lashed out at Ren l-like that, either. I j-just wanted a-answers, you know?"

"So we're cool?" Nora asked hopefully.

Yang smiled and nodded. "Yeah- we're c-cool."

The two leaned in and hugged each other tightly. Weiss, sitting next to them, smiled before turning her attention towards Pyrrha. "Are you alright, Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha, who had been smiling at the reconciliation as well, started slightly as she turned her attention towards the girl in white. "What do you mean?"

"It's just... you seem nervous. I noticed you looking behind you while we were listening to the story..."

"I wasn't seeing anything," Pyrrha assured her. "It's just... are we sure this place is safe?"

Jaune scoffed lightly. "I doubt _anywhere_ in this town is safe."

Yang and Nora released each other, and Nora turned to throw in her two cents. "Yeah, hard to find a safe place with It wandering around- but this place oughtta be the safest! I mean, we're all here, and Renny said he put up some protection- she can't even get in here!"

"He did?" Pyrrha asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Is that hard to believe?" Weiss returned the question. "I mean, he's the one who remembers the most- if anyone would have a way to keep It out, it would be him."

"It's not that," Pyrrha shook her head. "It's... when we were out on our walks, I came back here. It was the place I remembered best."

"Ohhh, I remember that now!" Nora nodded. "I was heading back to my hotel, and you were coming back here!"

"N-nerd," Yang smirked.

"Please, Yang," Weiss objected lightly. " _Intellectual._ "

Pyrrha gave another light smile at their antics, but it ultimately gave way to nervous concern. "And the thing is... when I was here, It appeared, too..."

Everyone's faces fell immediately.

"Are... are you sure?" Jaune asked. "You're _sure_ you saw It?"

"As sure as I can be," Pyrrha nodded. "It was here."

"But... then... did It outsmart Ren somehow?" Nora asked, here eyes wide, as though the thought of someone outsmarting Ren was simply unfeasible.

Before anyone else could respond, a scream came from the break room. Nora leapt to her feet and whipped around. "REN!" she cried, leading the charge through the door.

On the other side, they saw a long counter complete with a griddle plugged into the wall- but their eyes were immediately drawn to the refrigerator at the counter's end, in front of which Ren had fallen on his back, pushing himself as far away from it as he could, his eyes wide in terror.

Turning to the fridge, they immediately saw the source of his distress. The lower shelf was filled with blood, but they didn't need to look further than the top shelf to see where it was coming from.

Perched upon the fridge's top shelf was a head, detached from any body. The head belonged to an adult woman, a stray wrinkle here and there, but the giveaway lay in the long black hair and the velvety cat ears protruding from the top. Her eyes were closed, but very unmistakably, this was the head of Blake Belladonna.

"Close it!" Jaune immediately yelped.

Pyrrha nodded, moving forward, her face green, only to recoil as the eyes opened, revealing the amber that they had already expected.

The eyes roamed around for a moment, before Blake's face settled into a smile. Then... it spoke.

"Well, well, well- glad to see everyone else got here in time!"

Team Loser's mouths all hung open- despite the clear age on Blake's face, her voice had hardly changed at all- it was still the voice of the seventeen-year-old Blake Belladonna they'd known all those years ago.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting," the head continued. "Let's see..." Eventually, the amber eyes fell on Pyrrha, who had drawn closest to the fridge in her bid to close it. "Ah, good ol' Piggah Nikos! Looks like you've gotten a little anorexic- you oughtta get some meat on those bones!"

Next, the eyes fell on Weiss. "Ah, the Ice Queen- I wonder how your boyfriend's doing without a royal Schnee around to call all the shots? Really flying in the face of your daddy's legacy there, aren't you?"

Nora. "And if it ain't Nora! You know, we were meeting behind your back for the past twenty-seven years- taking bets on how long it would take you to die of diabetes from all that sugar you took in. We really thought you'd be dead by now- well, more so hoped, really."

Jaune. "And Jauney boy! How's your sex life going?" A brow quirked. "Assuming, of course, that you even have one. Don't worry, I can give you better head than Emerald ever did!"

The voice gave a very un-Blakelike laugh before turning to Yang. "Oh, don't _pout,_ Yang- you just _wish_ your puns were that good. You _really_ need to learn to let go- I'm sure Rubes would say the same."

Finally, Ren. "Oh, and _Renny,_ of course. Well, congratulations, Ren- you got us all back here! I mean, I came back in bits and pieces, but I'm back nonetheless! I thought I'd be more angry that you drove me to suicide, but really, it's just like Neo always said- we're all much happier over here! You guys should go kill yourselves, and you'll be happier, too!"

Blake fixed her gaze on them all as she continued. "You'll be, too! You'll be, too! You'll be, too!"

Yang started as she remembered the incident in her old basement all those years ago- and, sure enough, as Blake continued, her voice began to mingle with that of Neo- all as her face began to decay away. "You'll be, too! _You'll be, too!_ YOU'LL BE, TOO!"

At long last, Pyrrha regained control of her functions, and slammed the refrigerator shut with all the strength she could muster. The voice instantly ceased altogether, leaving a ringing silence behind.

Yang turned upon hearing a quiet whimpering noise, and flinched as she saw Ren- stoic, unflappable Ren- on the verge of tears. "I... I..."

Ignoring all the others, she stepped over and picked him up from the floor before pulling him into a tight hug. "It's _n-not_ your f-fault, Ren," she assured him. "Y-you were only d-d-doing what you huh-had to. I d-don't b-blame you... and I'm suh-sorry if I m-made you f-feel like I d-d-did."

Ren wrapped his arms around her in kind, his body continuing to spasm with silent sobs. None of the others intervened, not even Nora- they all gazed at him sadly as he let it all out.

At long last, he pulled away, reaching into a pocket to pull out a handkerchief with which he wiped his face. He tucked it away again, and ran his hands down his front, straightening out his clothes. "May I..." he paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "May I suggest we reconvene in the next room?"

"That sounds lovely," Pyrrha nodded, eyeing the refrigerator with distaste.

"Yeah..." Nora agreed, her face a similar color to Ren's clothing. "Can't pinpoint why, but I kinda lost my appetite..."

They all returned to the circular sofa and resumed their positions- Ren, Pyrrha and Jaune on one side, Weiss, Yang, and Nora on the other.

"I don't understand," Weiss kicked off the conversation, pouring some more wine for herself with rather shaky hands. "Nora said you put up wards to protect this place- how did It get in?"

Ren looked down ashamedly. "I... I lied. There are no wards- none that I could find."

"What?!" Nora gasped. "Then... why would you say there were?"

Ren looked up, meeting their gaze with his steady pink eyes. "The same reason I told you about the talismans- it's all about faith. I believed that if _you_ believed this place was safe, it would be. It seemed to be working, but now..."

Pyrrha gasped and raised her hands to her mouth. "I told you about It getting in earlier- that made you doubt that this place was safe, and-"

"It's not your fault, Pyrrha," Jaune interjected, placing an arm around her shoulder. "You didn't know- none of us could have."

"Indeed," Ren nodded. "Though... knowing that, if you'd like to relocate elsewhere..."

The others glanced at each other for a moment, then roundly shook their heads.

"It doesn't really change much," Weiss pointed out. "We're just as safe here as we would be anywhere else, when you think about it..."

"Hey, at least we have each other!" Nora beamed, diving between Yang and Weiss to pull them both into a tight embrace. "We can be each others' talismans, now!"

Ren smiled wanly. "I suppose we can."

Yang grinned and chuckled as she pulled herself free from Nora's grip. "So, Ren... wh-what happened n-n-next?"

Ren cast his mind back. "As I recall, we were lighting off Blake's fireworks when I

XXXX

turned away from the 'arsenal,' as Yang put it, and made a sudden, startling request. "So... how would you all feel about coming over to my place to celebrate the fourth?"

"Your place?" Nora asked, her eyes brightening noticeably. "Where's your place?"

"My family owns a farm out on the edges of Vale," Ren explained. Smiling, he added, "My parents always go through a few hoops to get the best fireworks we can."

"Well of course you do!" Nora grinned. "I mean, you basically _invented_ fireworks, didn't you?"

"Beep beep, Nora," Blake chided, bonking the orange-haired girl lightly on the head. "Besides," she added with a catlike smirk, "I'm pretty sure it was his father."

"My grandmother, actually," Ren smirked right back. Sobering up a little, he continued. "I feel I should do _something_ to thank you for helping me earlier, and the fourth is always a good time at our place, so..."

"There's no need to thank us," Pyrrha assured him. "I'm sure you would have done the same for us."

"He _has_ done the same for me," Jaune put in, smiling at the other boy.

"Nevertheless, I insist." Ren remained steady.

Yang laughed. "Well, if B-B-Blakey doesn't muh-mind us l-l-letting someone else h-host this year..."

"I suppose it _would_ make a nice change," Blake mused. Smiling, she nodded. "Alright, you're on."

"Great!" Ren smiled right back. "I'll tell my parents I'm expecting-"

He cut himself off, a look of horror etching its way onto his face. "My _parents!_ " he realized. "I told them I'd only be out a few hours!"

"Hey, it ain't _your_ fault you had to take a detour," Nora clapped him on the back reassuringly- which, in practice, just sent him reeling into a nearby pile of leaves. "Just explain it to them, and I'm sure they'll understand!"

Ren's smile returned as he rose to his feet, brushing himself off. "I'm sure you're right... well, either way, I should be off. See you all tomorrow?"

"M-meet us at A S-Simple Wok," Yang instructed. "You kn-know that n-n-noodle place?"

"I know the place," Ren nodded, before turning and dashing off. "See you tomorrow!"

As he tore off back into the forest, the others turned to look uneasily at each other.

"Should we have told him?" Jaune asked, biting his lip slightly.

"It didn't really come up," Pyrrha reflected. "I'm sure we'll get the chance tomorrow."

Looking up, they spied the sun descending steadily towards the horizon. "It's about t-t-time _we_ c-called it a d-day, too," Yang noted. "C-come on, let's g-get back into t-town. Are you all g-g-going tomorrow?"

There was a general nod of assent, but Yang turned primarily towards Weiss, who looked less certain. "W-Weissy?"

Weiss thought for a moment longer, then nodded. "I'm sure I can get away with it if I explain I'm just going into town to watch other people light off their fireworks- he'd never let me get away with doing it myself. I won't even technically be lying."

Yang nodded in satisfaction. "Well, th-then... a S-Simple Wok it is."

XXXX

Yang had been nervous waking up that morning, wondering if certain members of the team would make it- Weiss and Ren at the forefront of her mind. However, she needn't have worried- she arrived to find all six already present and waiting.

"Geez, Yang, it's not usually _you_ holding us up!" Nora exclaimed upon finally seeing her coming down the street. "Come on- Ren's gonna show us the way!"

Blake rolled her eyes at the way Nora enunciated her final few words before flashing a smile of her own. "My parents were okay with it," she related. "I think they were glad to hear about me making more friends- sent me out with a nice set of fireworks of my own."

Ren laughed as Blake gestured to a bag near her feet. "Well, I hope not _all_ of you brought extra fireworks- otherwise, we might be up all night!"

"Nah," Nora shrugged off the idea. "Blakey usually brings most of the fireworks- her and-"

She froze mid-sentence, and a cold front seemed to pass over the group. Weiss and Blake turned to look at Yang, currently standing as still as a statue. Looking between them, it didn't take long for Pyrrha and Jaune to work out what Nora had intended to say.

Yang, however, didn't acknowledge it- if anything, she seemed to be making a concerted effort to ignore what Nora had just drawn so near to uttering. "R-r-right... m-mostly just B-B-Blakey. Unless V-Vomit Boy or P-P-Pyrrha brought some?"

Jaune shook his head, while Pyrrha blushed. "No fireworks, but... I brought some snacks."

"Oohhh!" Nora perked up again, jumping on the change of subject. "S'mores? S'mores? We gonna have a campout with some fireworks?"

Pyrrha laughed as she opened the bag at her side, revealing yet another plethora of graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. "You know me too well, Nora," she chuckled.

"YES!" Nora whooped. "Well, come on, let's get going!"

She had marched several feet away from the stand before stopping dead and turning to blush at the others. "So... which way are we going again?"

Ren laughed as well as he took the lead, guiding them through town towards his family's house on the outside.

XXXX

Li and An Ren provided Team Loser with quite the jovial greeting.

"My son told us all about you!" Li grinned, clapping them on the back one by one as they entered the house in the center of the fields. "Way I heard it, you pulled him out of a tight spot yesterday!"

"T-Team C-Curdle chasing him around- n-n-no biggy," Yang shrugged off, though her smile hardly seemed displeased.

"Stopping to help others is always a... biggy," Li shook his head. "There has been a saddening lack of altruism in this town as of late. It warms my heart to see that there are still those ready to answer the call of duty."

"Answering the call of duty- that's us!" Nora nodded brightly. "You should see when Yang and I play- there's no one anywhere that can stand up to _us!_ "

Li raised an eyebrow in seeming confusion. "Of... of course!" Turning back to address the rest of the Team again, he returned to his warm smile. "Feel free to make yourselves at home- I'm sure Lie can whip up some pancakes for you!"

"Pan...cakes?" Weiss asked, a note of confusion in her voice.

"I know it seems odd," An nodded, entering the living room through the kitchen, "but Lie really does make the finest pancakes I've ever tasted. Ever since we found out, we've made it a tradition to have him make some each holiday."

Everyone turned immediately towards Ren, who was already struggling to shrink into the darkness of a nearby corner. "You _cook?_ " Yang asked.

"Oh, Lie's got quite a few talents, but cooking's definitely among them!" An related cheerfully, heedless to her son's silent pleas to stop. "Pancakes are his specialty, but he also makes the best omelettes you've ever tasted, a fine roast, and his sushi dishes-"

" _I saw him f-first!_ " Yang yelped, diving towards Ren and seizing his arm.

"Hey, back off, Milk Jugs!" Nora objected, charging and latching onto his other. "I already called dibs!"

Ren threw a bewildered look at the rest of Team Loser as the two women engaged in a brief tug-of-war over him- Weiss was lowering her eyes into her hand, Pyrrha and Jaune's mouths were open, and Blake was giving an exasperated shake of her head.

"Alright, break it up, you two," she finally intervened, stepping forward and pulling Ren free. "I'm sure Ren doesn't need this right now."

"Thanks... Blake..." Ren panted as he rubbed his arms.

"Sorry, Ren," Nora looked shamefacedly towards the ground. She then looked back up at him, her eyes regaining their glow. "But you'll make us some pancakes, right? Because I- like, I _love_ pancakes!"

"She really does," Weiss agreed, groaning at a sudden memory. "Even our cooks have trouble keeping up with her."

Li gave a hearty laugh at everything going on in front of him. "It seems you've found a fine group of friends, Lie," he smiled, clapping his son on the shoulder this time. "I'm proud." Looking around at them all, he added, "I think An and I will leave you to it tonight- I'm sure you don't need us sticking around and embarrassing you! We have a nice fire set up out back already- all that's left is to light it!"

"Ah, you don't have to leave us!" Nora pouted. "You're cool!"

"I'm glad you think so," An smiled gently. "But I'm sure Lie doesn't need us spreading anymore stories about him."

Ren nodded rapidly, only to stop as soon as his new friends turned to look at him.

"We'll head out to town," Li said, putting an arm around his wife. "By the time we get back, it ought to be dark enough for you to be lighting off some fireworks, and we'll just watch from the porch."

"Are you certain?" Pyrrha asked uncertainly. "I mean, watching from a distance like that..."

"Believe me, my dear girl, with the fireworks we get, it won't matter," Li winked. "Well, just try not to destroy the house, alright?"

With that, he and An were out the door and on their way.

"I like them," Nora stared after them with a smile. She then turned on Ren. "So... pancakes?"

Yang smiled too, but then shifted to a frown. "In a b-bit, Nora," she interjected. "I... I want to t-tell him f-first."

The mood noticeably dropped at her words. Ren looked from face to face, slightly confused. "Tell me... tell me what?"

Yang glanced at the others before deciding it was up to her. "We... we thuh-think we kn-know who's d-d-doing the k-kidnappings... and sh-sh-she's not... human."

Ren froze at the mention of the kidnappings, looking almost like a deer caught in headlights. "...What?"

Jaune was hardly any more at ease than the others, but he was the next to speak nonetheless. "I know it sounds crazy, but it's a woman- a woman going around Vale and taking the kids."

Seeing the look on Ren's face, Weiss was seized with sudden inspiration. "Have _you_ seen her? She's on the shorter side, with-"

"-mismatched hair and eyes," Ren finished, steadily meeting their gazes, one by one. "Yes... yes, I have."

Nora gasped, then lurched forward, pulling him into a protective embrace. "What did she do to you? How did you get away? Did she _hurt_ you? Did sh-"

"Beep, beep, Nora," Blake interjected, bonking the girl on the head again. "Let him speak, why don't you?"

Nora nodded as she pulled away, leaving Ren still looking somewhat nervous.

"It was earlier this year," he recalled. "Just after Spring Break. My father sent me to examine the Ellis Hotel- you know, that old hotel that burned down a long time ago? I... I went into what used to be the basement, and as I was coming out, this... this _thing_ appeared. A nuckelavee- a demon from Anima. It chased me, and I only _just_ managed to escape..."

The others bit their lips in anticipation. "...And the woman?" Blake hardly dared ask.

"When I got away, she appeared," Ren continued, taking a seat at the table. "She tried to lure me out- she offered me an ice cream cone."

They all exchanged looks with each other- confusion mixed with terror. "... Ice cream cone?" Weiss asked.

"She offered _me_ some ice cream, too," Nora recalled, glancing at Yang. "When we were in the House on Vickery Lane- she was coming at me, and offered me some-"

"Vickery Lane?" Ren asked, perking up. "You went inside the House on Vickery Lane?"

"We d-did," Yang nodded. Seized by a sudden suspicion, she turned fully towards him. "Why? Do you kn-know something? S-something about th-th-that house?"

"Not exactly..." Ren spoke slowly. "It's been deserted for years- ever since its last occupant was murdered in 712- though it's difficult to find any records from back then, even."

"Murdered?" Jaune asked, not liking the direction this conversation was taking.

Ren glanced around at them all, seeing that he had their full and undivided attention. "Vale..." he began, "it's... a very unique town. It's pretty small compared to the average city in Remnant, but despite that, it has a remarkable number of... _incidents_ in its history. They date back further than 712- _much_ further- but that incident is the earliest I can find reliable sources about. Even the town's _founding_ was odd- two hundred fifty-five settlers, vanished over a single winter. They'd set down roots, constructed everything they should have needed when their leader left to get more supplies from Mistral. He came back, only to find the settlement completely empty. The only clue left was-"

"A knife stuck in a table in town hall," Weiss spoke up, her eyes widening as she suddenly remembered one of her classes in school. She looked up at Ren, and continued at his nod. "Right next to the words, 'God is in Heaven, all is right with the world.'"

"Exactly," Ren nodded. He rose to his feet. "I've been doing a... a history project, I guess you could say, delving into Vale's history. Everything I find out seems to point to one conclusion- there's one thing in this town, one _being_ at the center of all its tragedy."

He paused a moment, taking in his audience's reactions, then continued. "I thought it was a hallucination that day- not just for the monster, but because the woman... the woman is exactly what my father described standing outside the Menagerie Grill and Bar the night it burned down."

"Menagerie?" Weiss asked, raising an eyebrow.

Blake, on the other hand, bristled at the name. "A bar for faunus," she explained. "Burned down by a group of human supremacists twenty-eight years ago. My parents met at that bar- the only reason they weren't _killed_ was because they were out of town together."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Ren offered regretfully as Pyrrha placed a comforting hand on Blake's shoulder. "But that's not all- I was out talking to Professor Port yesterday, and he told me a story from a year before."

"You talked to _Port?_ " Nora asked, shocked. "On _purpose?_ "

"He was the only one willing to talk about it," Ren explained quickly. "A year before Menagerie's destruction, there was a battle in the streets- people came together to chase off a group of bandits, only to end up killing them all. And somewhere in that battle... the woman. _The same woman._ "

He looked around again, a note of desperation entering his eyes. "I know how it sounds, but when you go back over all these incidents, no matter how far, you can _always_ find evidence of this woman being near- always the same, never aging a day."

He hesitated, closing his eyes. He'd laid all his cards on the table, now all that was left was for them to call him crazy, for them to march off...

"I b-b-believe you."

He opened his eyes to see not _one_ scornful eye among them. Yang continued. "W-we've all s-seen h-her too."

Ren looked around uncertainly, only to be greeted with nods and various other expressions of agreement.

"Yang's got it the worst, though," Nora piped up. "That woman came after her..." She stopped herself, glancing over at the blond in question.

Yang sighed. "Sh-she took my s-s-sister."

Ren gasped. "Ruby... Ruby Rose?"

Yang nodded solemnly. "I've b-b-been looking for h-her ever s-s-since."

Ren crossed the room and patted her on the shoulder. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Yang looked back up, fire in her eyes. "What do you _m-mean,_ sorry for m-my loss? She's not _d-dead,_ you know! Sh-she's st-still out there s-s-somewhere, and I'm g-going to f-find her and m-make that th-thing _pay_ for t-taking her!"

Ren threw glances to the side, only to see Weiss and Blake giving him expressions that clearly said, _Just go along with it._

"Of... of course she is," he agreed, nodding as he backed away. "I'm sorry if I upset you."

Yang closed her eyes, and a set of deep breaths later, had calmed herself down. "N-no... _I'm_ s-s-sorry... I just... I g-get really f-f-fired up..."

"I would be, too," Ren agreed.

Pyrrha waited for the tension to die down a bit before picking up the conversation. "So... you say you've been researching this... this thing?"

"I have," Ren nodded. "I have a journal where I keep everything I find. I can show it to you, if you want."

The others looked up at him, nerves clear in their faces. At long last, though, Blake broke the silence. "Later," she insisted. "Yang's still cooling off from her last experience."

"B-Blake!" Yang objected, not keen on being denied a new lead when it had just plopped itself down in front of her.

"You promised, Yang," Blake reminded her with a sharp glance from her amber eyes. "Cool down until after the fourth, _then_ pick up the investigation."

Yang backed down. Her reluctance was clear on her face, but she backed down nevertheless.

Ren spoke up again. "So... you're planning to go after this thing and kill it?"

"I... I suppose that's the general idea, yes," Pyrrha nodded.

Ren nodded in return. "Then I want in."

They all looked back at him, surprised. "You what?" Weiss gave voice to their shock.

"I want in," Ren repeated. "I didn't have many close friends at school, but I still had to watch people going home then never return." Closing his eyes, he asked, "I'm guessing you've heard about Coco Adel?"

Their hearts all sank at the memory of probably the most popular girl at Beacon High, who had vanished just after the conclusion of the school year.

Ren nodded. "I found her journal and a tube of lipstick on the lawn the day after school got out- I planned on returning them. I never got the chance." There was no doubting his resolve as he continued. "If you're going after this thing, I want in."

Yang hesitated only a moment longer before breaking into a smile- not her usual bright, sunny smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Well, th-then, w-welcome to Team Loser!"

She stood and pulled him into his customary 'welcome-to-the-team' bearhug. The others watched with smiles on their faces as Ren's face rapidly began to turn red. On some level, it seemed, they had already known he was to be their final member- what was happening now was simply getting it declared formally. At long last, Team Loser was truly complete.

Yang backed off after a while, allowing Ren's face to return to its normal color. Clapping her hands together, she declared, "So... pancakes?"

XXXX

In Nora's none-too-humble opinion, Ren's parents had been selling his pancake-making skills grievously short when they described them as fantastic. "Mmmmm... shese r sho goooood!" she crooned as she helped herself to a stack drowning in syrup.

"Swallow, Nora," Weiss chided, wrinkling her nose at Nora's table manners- as she was wont to whenever they ate together.

Nora swallowed what seemed to be a lump the size of Atlas, before smiling sheepishly. "Sorry... these are so gooood!"

Ren chuckled lightly. "I've been making them for years now- I like to think I improve every time."

"They _are_ remarkably well-made," Weiss nodded.

"And if it's c-c-coming from W-Weissy, you _kn-know_ it's good," Yang smirked over a forkful of her own pancake. "Wh-what with all h-her _p-professional chefs_ and all..."

"Shut up!" Weiss objected, ears turning red.

Ren shook his head. "I could only hope to stack up to true professionals one day," he waved aside.

"Nonsense," Weiss shook her head. "These are far above any pancakes _I've_ had before-"

"Aha!" Nora burst out, pointing dramatically across the table. "So you _do_ have professional chefs!"

"Nora?" Pyrrha suggested. "You've still got some pancakes left, you know."

"Oh!" Nora quickly forgot her campaign to bring red to Weiss's cheeks and dove right back into her syruppy heaven.

"Well... I mean, I don't exactly eat professionally made meals or anything," Jaune smiled, shying slightly away from Weiss's incoming glare, "but for what it's worth, _I'm_ really enjoying them."

"Ditto," Blake nodded simply.

"I'm glad to hear it," Ren smiled calmly, rising to his feet, his plate clean. He deposited it in the sink and began rooting through some nearby cupboards. "Let's see... I know we have a lighter somewhere around here..."

"Lighter?" Nora belted out a laugh. "We don't need no stinking lighter! We've got Yang!"

"Yang?" Ren asked, turning towards her.

Yang smiled. "M-My semblance ought t-t-to take c-care of us."

Ren glanced at the others- Jaune seemed just as confused, but a light smile was gracing the other girls' faces.

"You'll see," Blake assured them.

XXXX

And so they did- as night began to fall, they all trooped out into a nearby field that Li had cleared for the festivities. The sun was dipping below the horizon again, leaving the farmland in an almost eerie twilight. Yang approached a circle of stones complete with a pile of wood in its center, pile of extra wood lying to the side. Ren approached with the others, eager to see where this was going.

"S-So, what do I d-do?" Yang asked, smirking as she stood in front of the fireplace.

"You burn!" Nora cried in delight.

"Hotter than the sun in the middle of July!" Yang agreed, before swinging a punch at the logs, immediately setting them ablaze.

Jaune's jaw dropped in awe, and Ren's face gave way to a light smile. "I see... a pyromancer, eh?"

"Not exactly," Blake shook her head. "She can channel her emotions into heat- she can't actually _control_ fire or anything."

Even as they were speaking, Nora was rooting through the pile of fireworks erected at the edge of the clearing, picking out a handful of sparklers before cheerily turning to Yang. "Light me up, baby!" she whooped.

Yang grinned, tapping the top of the sparklers and stepping back as they began to erupt into color.

"Whoooooooo!" Nora cheered, beginning to run around waving them in the air.

"Careful with those, Nora!" Jaune spoke up warningly. "You don't want to- burn... down..."

"Don't worry about her," Weiss shook her head. "I know she doesn't look it, but she's actually being careful- she wouldn't want to risk hurting a friend's property, after all."

"KU-RAH!" Nora cheered as she began juggling the lighters, prompting a drop of sweat from Weiss's forehead.

"...I think," she amended.

"MORTAR TIME!" Yang called out, picking out a tube and planting a shell in it, drawing everyone's eyes- even Nora's. She placed the tube firmly into the ground, then rubbed the end of the fuse between her fingers. As soon as the flame took, she backed off a few feet before collapsing to the ground on her back, grinning up at the sky. A moment later, a popping sound briefly preceded a drawn-out screech and a colossal BANG!Up above them, the sky was suddenly morphed into a brilliant array of green, orange and blue sparks, briefly illuminating the wondrous faces below.

Ren smiled as he crossed to Yang, only to frown slightly when he noticed a tear in her eye. "Are... are you okay?" he asked, taking a seat next to her.

"I'm f-f-fine..." Yang assured him in a very unreassuring way.

"Care to talk?"

Yang met his eyes, more tears forming at the edges of hers. "It's j-just... this was... _h-h-her_ favorite h-h-holiday, too... she l-loved the n-n-noises and the c-c-colors..."

Ren's heart clenched, and he knew instantly who she was talking about. He reached out and wrapped an arm around her. "We'll find her, Yang. I promise." He looked up to see Nora still playing around with her sparklers, now drawing the attention and interference of all the others. He smiled. "I know it seems bad now, but you've got some good friends- they'll see this through to the end with you. And now you've let _me_ in- I'll see it through with you, too."

Yang sniffled a bit into his shoulder. "Th-thanks," she muttered quietly. "I... I d-d-do feel c-calmer now..."

"That might be my semblance," Ren suggested. "I can keep people calm... including myself."

Yang reached up and tapped him on the shoulder in imitation of a strike. "D-don't mess with m-my emotions like that..."

Ren smiled at the lack of bite in her words. "Whenever you're ready, Ms. Xiao Long."

A moment later, Yang had pulled herself to her feet, re-affixing her sunny grin. "How about a f-f-fountain next?" she suggested.

Ren nodded as he rose to his feet as well. "Sounds good to me."

That night was one of the greatest of all their lives- dancing around the bonfire, lighting off fireworks, roasting marshmallows for s'mores and helping themselves to some snack food that An came out to provide for them just after the sun had finished its final descent. Despite all they would forget in the years to come, that was the night that forever solidified them as one- one team, one unit, one heart, one soul.

That was the night they finally, truly became Team Loser.

 _XXXX_

Hope things didn't get too cheesy for you at the end there. To let me know- as well as to celebrate the new year- please R&R, constructive criticism, questions, and flames all embraced, Gamer4 out.


	33. Blake Belladonna Attacks a Book (C)

Gamer4 in. Okay, confession time- I was sitting on the last chapter for a few days before actually posting it. I'm sorry, I like posting something on the stroke of midnight on New Year's- it's kinda my thing! Whenever I actually have something _to_ post... anyways, hope you can forgive me. To apologize, I'm getting started on this chapter earlier than normal. Of course, whether that translates to it actually going _up_ earlier than normal remains to be seen. That's what I'll strive for, at least. Let's dive in.

Disclaimer: Don't you worry about the dark- I will light up the night with the love in my heart! I will burn like the sun that will keep you safe and warm!

Chapter XXXII

Blake Belladonna Attacks a Book

Ren lowered his glass, all gin empty from it. With a slight grunt, he rose from the sofa to his feet.

"Where you goin'?" Nora asked, attempting to sound jovial, but nerves still quite apparent in her voice- she clearly hadn't forgotten what happened the last time he had left the circle.

"The break room again," he responded, going no further than the outer edge of the sofas. "I want to make sure It's gone."

"S-s-someone ought t-to go w-with you," Yang ordered.

"Agreed," Ren nodded, shuddering slightly. "Any volunteers?"

To nobody's surprise, Nora was the first to jump to her feet, vaulting over the back of the couch to stand next to him. "You're not leaving my sight again, Renny," she practically whispered, a tint of red on her face.

"Whatever you say, Nora," Ren nodded, smiling back at her. "Anyone else?"

"I'll go," Weiss nodded, rising to her feet far more elegantly than her companion in pink. "I don't trust the two of you alone for too long."

"I kn-know _I_ d-don't," Yang interjected with a suggestive smirk.

"Zip it, Long," Weiss sighed. "Everyone else good to stay here?"

Pyrrha glanced at Jaune, who was determinedly looking the other way. Correctly interpreting his silence, she offered, "Jaune and I will stay out here, thanks."

"And I'll k-k-keep with them," Yang shrugged. "I d-don't tuh-trust them alone t-together either."

Ren made a show of sighing and laughing at the same time. "Very well. Come along." With that, he led the two women next to him back into the break room.

The mood seemed to take a noticeable dive the moment they crossed the threshold, the memory of the previous incident still fresh in all their minds. Ren glanced back at them- Weiss had rolled back the sleeve of her jacket, revealing a chain of beads surrounding her wrist, while Nora had produced a colored pink rock, currently clenched so tightly in her hand that her knuckle turned white. Assured that they were okay, Ren reached into his own pocket, tightly gripping what lay hidden therein. With his other hand, he reached out, seized the handle of the refrigerator, and pulled it open.

Empty. Entirely empty- no Blake head, no blood, and none of the other things that actually belonged there.

"I think she's just screwing with us now," Nora suggested, glancing over his shoulder. "I'm sure her next move is sending Christmas cards to jews."

Weiss exhaled through her nose in a very, _very_ light laugh. Immediately moving to cover it up, she countered with, "Watch it, Nora- what would Blake say if she heard that?"

"I don't know," Ren smiled slightly. "I don't know if you remember, but she had quite the odd sense of humor at times."

Their smiles disappeared again as he shut the fridge. "Well... I suppose that's it for food, then. We'll just have to make it through the rest of this story-telling session on empty stomachs."

"As empty as they _can_ be after eating some of your cooking," Weiss countered.

"What she said!" Nora nodded, smile returning. "One course of your pancakes could set me up for a whole week!"

The corner of Ren's mouth twitched, and he led them back out to the main room, where the others were still sitting right where they'd been left.

"It would appear that It is gone," Weiss announced.

"And It took all our food," Nora grumbled.

"No..." Jaune practically whispered, fear evident in his voice. "It's still here, alright..."

At this point, the three of them noticed Yang, Pyrrha, and Jaune were all looking in the same direction- up into the balcony surrounding the upper level of the library. Following their gaze, they saw what had Jaune so spooked- a set of words inscribed upon the wall, written it what was quite clearly blood, in a familiar cursive.

 _WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED?_

"Was that there earlier?" Weiss asked uncomfortably.

"No... no, I'm pretty sure it wasn't," Jaune shook his head in equal discomfort.

Nora bit her lip. "It's the same writing..."

"The same writing?" Ren asked, turning his head. "You've seen it before? In the museum?"

"No," Nora shook her head, reaching into a pocket to fumble around a bit. "Before I went to the museum, I headed to the Old Fairgrounds- I couldn't tell you why, it just..."

"Felt right?" Ren guessed. Nora nodded. "Well, that's what I said to do, I suppose... what did you find?"

"A little... coin? I guess? It was in the middle of a tent, and it had a word written on the back- in that handwriting."

She produced the small pendant she'd found and handed it over. Ren froze as he examined the small disc- the pattern on one side, and the word _Useless_ on the other.

"Ren?" Pyrrha asked, concern entering her voice. "Is something-"

"Twelve," Ren practically whispered- they all had to listen very closely to hear him at all. "Twelve."

Confusion spread across the others' faces- except for Yang, who experienced a burst of understanding. "I-Ironwood?"

"Ironwood," Ren nodded. "I gave this to him- it was supposed to protect him. I guess we know how _that_ went now." With that, he cast the disc onto the table in the center of the sofas, where it rolled and eventually came to a rest, subtly glinting in the dim lights of the library.

Listening closely, they swore they could hear a light cackling from a distance.

Yang raised her eyes back to the words on the wall. "I... I w-was th-thinking... m-m-maybe it sh-shouldn't s-surprise us th-that... of all of us... that B-B-B-Blake would..."

The others turned to stare at her- she briefly looked away and wiped her eyes. "It's not- n-n-nothing against h-h-her... b-but as I st-started r-remembering... sh-she was... of all of us... sh-she seemed l-l-like the m-m-m-most afraid..."

"You remembered something else?" Ren asked, resuming his seat across from Yang, as Weiss and Nora did the same.

"I d-d-did," Yang nodded. "Th-the day after the f-f-fourth... y-you were f-finally about to j-join the h-hunt... w-we were in the muh-middle of finding

XXXX

"-the perfect l-location!" Yang announced as they entered a rather large clearing. All of Team Loser was there- sans Ren. There had never been any doubt that Nora and Blake would make it, Pyrrha and Jaune managed to sneak away from their mothers, and by some miracle, Weiss managed to dodge her father as well, heading out into the Emerald Forest to hear their leader's latest pitch. As for Ren... he seemed to be running late.

"Hmm..." Weiss mused, raising a finger to her chin as she examined the clearing Yang had led them to. "It _is_ rather spacious..."

"And the soil seems pretty ideal," Jaune agreed, jabbing his foot experimentally into the ground a couple times. "Soft enough to dig, hard enough to not collapse too easily... nice spot you found."

"How do you know all that?" Blake asked, raising her eyebrows slightly- her bow was off at the moment. Out in the forest among her friends, she felt a much less pressing need to conceal her identity.

"Oh," Jaune rubbed the back of his head, blushing. "I... I may dabble in architecture... every now and again..."

"Very interesting, Jaune!" Pyrrha piped up- and her interest certainly showed in her eyes. "You study architecture?"

"No, not really," Jaune repeated, blushing harder at the sudden scrutiny he was under. "I just... dabble."

"W-Well, then!" Yang grinned, slapping him on his back. "I g-guess it's d-decided! Wuh-We're p-putting you in ch-charge of the d-d-design!"

"I... I really don't..." Jaune was stuttering almost as badly as Yang herself as his blush continued to worsen.

His salvation came from a rather unexpected source- Nora Valkyrie. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's all interesting and everything, but where's _Ren?_ I had an idea, and I don't want to bring it up until we're _all_ here!"

"I t-t-told him t-to m-meet us at the b-bridge," Yang reflected. "I f-figured he'd sh-show..."

"Maybe he changed his mind?" Blake suggested.

A slight chill seemed to wash over them- only to be broken by Nora smiling. "Nah- he wouldn't do that! He insisted so hard on it!"

The others smiled- Nora's enthusiasm was often infectious, and they felt there was solid truth in her words.

"Well, he's hardly going to find us all the way out here," Pyrrha pointed out. "We came quite a ways..."

"R-right," Yang nodded, clapping her hands together as she adopted her leader persona. "N-Nora, B-Blakey- w-wanna head to the buh-bridge and w-wait for him? Sh-show him the w-way back here?"

Nora practically bounced in joy, nodding eagerly. Blake, however- pessimist that she was- felt the need to ask, "And if he _doesn't_ show up?"

"Oh, don't be a buzzkill, Blakey!" Nora waved her aside. "He's gonna turn up- I'm sure of it!"

"Yeah, but- Nora! Wait!"

Blake had been on the point of continuing her point when Nora, completely ignoring her, seized her by the scruff of the neck and tore off back through the forest on the path from whence they'd come.

Yang chuckled at her enthusiasm before returning her gaze to the remaining members. "Alright, l-l-ladies and g-gentleman... st-start d-digging!"

XXXX

As it turned out, there was a very simple reason for Ren's tardiness that day. He hadn't slept in- it would have been fully possible, given his repertoire, but he had gone out of his way to ensure that he would awake bright and early for his meeting with his new friends.

No, the reason for his lateness was something else entirely- the length of the shower he was taking.

Ren didn't generally take particularly _long_ showers. He didn't hate the water- he simply tended to find that there were better things to do, leading to him jumping in, scrubbing all necessary parts, then jumping out so he could dry off and get started on more worthwhile activities.

Today, however, his brief shower had earned an extension when he had stepped out, drying off his hair, and turned to glance at himself in the mirror, only to blink in surprise.

His heart had nearly leapt into his throat when he saw a bright strawberry pink color lurking in his mirror- but this terror had swiftly been snuffed out by confusion when he realized that it was not the hair of any woman, but his own. Somehow, his dark hair had turned a bright shade of pink.

He looked quickly around, not entirely certain what he was looking for. While he didn't usually spend much time looking in mirrors, he was fairly certain his hair had still been its usual black when he had stepped into the shower, and he _definitely_ didn't recall anything from the previous night that would have brought about this change- there was only one explanation left.

Sure enough, when he approached the bottle of shampoo he'd just used to scrub his hair clean and emptied a portion into his hand, he could see it had altered from its usual off-white color to a bright shade of pink almost perfectly matching his hair.

This only inspired more confusion in him- had the woman done this? It hardly seemed likely- this wasn't frightening or destructive in the least- more annoying, if anything. One of the girls, perhaps? More likely, but the question still remained- _why?_

Eventually, he decided he could work out those finer details later- for now, he ought to focus on cleaning his hair out again. A quick search through the cupboards led him to a new bottle of shampoo- which, as a quick test revealed, was clean and untainted. He then set to work on cleaning the dye out of his hair.

It took far longer than he'd expected- _whoever_ had done this had picked out the right stuff for maximum irritation. His fingers were steadily taking on the consistency of prunes, and still the dye remained steadfastly present.

It took a great deal of time for him to finally surrender- he'd gotten most of it out, at any rate. All that remained was a single streak off to one side- he could live with that. In the meantime, he was already running late. Instead, he quickly dried off, jumped into his clothes, and was nearly out the door when he remembered that he was supposed to bring his journal today- it was finally time to show off his research.

A minute or so of searching later, and he was finally out the door, taking his bike out towards the Emerald Forest.

XXXX

It didn't take him long to locate Nora and Blake- or Nora, at least. She had been keeping a sharp eye out for him, and the moment he entered her field of view, she began jumping up and down excitedly, waving her arms and calling out- "OH! OH, REN! RENNY! OVER HERE! WE'RE OVER HERE, RENNY!"

Her antics elicited a small smile from him as he biked over, lowering his kickstand next to what he assumed to be the others' bikes on top of their favorite bridge and jumping down, his journal kept tightly under his arm. "Yes, Nora, I see you."

"You ran a little late today," Blake observed, prompting a blink of surprise from him- he hadn't even noticed her presence until she'd seemingly melted out of the shadows.

"I had an incident in my shower," he shrugged off, only to wince at the look of terror this inspired in the two girls.

"Her? Was it _her?_ Did she hurt you, Renny?" Nora asked, wrapping her arms tightly around him. "Oh, I won't _ever_ forgive her for this- she'll rue the day she messed with my team! _Ruuuuuue!"_

"Beep... beep Nora!" Ren forced out, finally convincing her to release him. "No, it wasn't her- not as far as I could tell, at least."

"What was it?" Blake asked, lowering her guard slightly, but still looking rather tense.

"I have my suspicions," Ren muttered. "I'll fill you in once we meet up with the others. Speaking of..."

"Oh, right!" Nora jumped to attention, performing an odd salute involving twisting her arm into a very awkward-looking angle. "Private Ren! Our mission today is top-secret- we can only discuss it on-site! Once we arrive, you will receive all the details! Do you accept?"

Blake rolled her eyes, but Ren chuckled lightly. "That I do..." He quietly prompted her with his hands.

"CAPTAIN!" Nora burst out after a moment of thought. "CAPTAIN NORA VALKYRIE, AT YOUR SERVICE! Now... fall in line!"

With that, she did an about-face and led them back through the forest, Ren still smiling, Blake attempting to conceal her face behind her hands.

XXXX

The rest of Team Loser instantly registered the approach of their missing members when they heard Nora stomping through the forest, shouting at the top of her lungs- "HUP! Two, three, four! KEEP IT UP, two, three, four!"

"S-sounds like her m-mission was successful," Yang commented, smiling before returning to their project.

"Yeah, she sounds pretty happy," Jaune agreed, gripping the shovel in his hand a bit tighter as he continued his assault on the soil.

At last, they appeared through the trees.

Ren immediately scanned the clearing he'd been led to, attempting to piece together what was happening. Yang and Jaune were standing in the center of a shallow hole that they were steadily working to widen- Jaune's strokes were rather measured, doing his best to capture the most dirt with each shovelful and lay it to the side, whereas Yang was attacking the ground as if each scoop of topsoil had done her a great personal wrong. Pyrrha was sweating heavily, leading him to believe she'd just been assisting but had paused to take a break, while Weiss was watching from a short distance, a lip between her teeth.

As he laid his journal gently against a nearby tree, he finally asked the question on his mind- "So, is this our first Team Loser mission? Digging a hole in the ground?"

Nora, who looked as though she'd been aching to give him the full details for a while now, finally burst. "WE'RE BUILDING A CLUBHOUSE!"

"A clubhouse?"

Weiss sighed. "Earlier this summer, we were trying to build a treehouse- that didn't go so well. None of us really had the architectural know-how. Yang's new idea? Build it into the ground- dig a nice big hole, cover it up with wood, and nobody needs to even know that it's here."

"I see," Ren nodded.

"D-damn right, you d-do!" Yang nodded, crossing her arms. "Once w-we have it up and r-r-running, w-we can f-finally g-go over everything w-w-without anyone else interfering! T-Team Curdle... our p-parents... or..."

"Or her," Ren guessed, a chill running through the group as he voiced their secret worry.

"Or It," Yang corrected. "It's n-n-no her. It's... it's It."

"Or It," Ren conceded, seeing the logic in her words. "On that subject... I brought my journal today, if you'd like to go through it..."

As one, the rest of the group turned their eyes towards the book he'd brought with him, as if it had suddenly grown teeth and legs- but there it lay, nondescript against the tree.

"L-L-Later," Yang finally decided. "F-for now, I want to g-get a st-start on our h-headquarters. Sp-speaking of... f-feel like juh-joining in?"

Ren smiled, turning towards Pyrrha. "Feel like tossing me your shovel?"

And so passed the early afternoon, as Ren, Nora, and Blake joined in the digging efforts. Periodically, they'd each step off to take a break- except for Yang, whose personal determination saw her continually going after the dirt without rest.

Nora, to nobody's surprise, was the second most enthusiastic, plunging her shovel into the ground and hastily throwing the dirt over her shoulder, creating quite the hassle for Weiss, who was sitting out the project in the interest of not giving her true activities away to her father. Pyrrha found herself taking more breaks than the others, but worked all the harder when she _did_ take up the shovel to make up for it. Jaune seemed to be occupying his time trying to make the hole they were digging as architecturally perfect as possible, looking ahead to when they would likely be placing wood to bolster the sides. As a result, he wasn't moving _quite_ as much dirt as the others, but they forgave him- if this project came out looking nicer than a simple hole in the ground, they'd have him to thank.

Blake and Ren, meanwhile, seemed to unite in a rhythm- *Strike, scoop, toss. Strike, scoop, toss.* They weren't the hardest workers there, but they were certainly the steadiest, continuing to make decent progress until the sun began to show signs of dipping below the horizon, prompting Yang to finally call it.

"Alright," she muttered, glancing at their work so far. She was slightly disappointed- even after all that, the hole was wider than it was deep, only coming up to about knee-height. Nonetheless, she could see the exhaustion on the others' faces- it really was time. "Th-that's it for t-today. W-Weiss?"

"Yes?" the girl in white raised her head upon being addressed.

"I d-don't s-suppose you c-could get huh-hold of some nice w-wooden p-p-planks to k-keep this hole from c-collapsing, could you?"

"That shouldn't be too hard," Weiss nodded. "I'm sure I can come up with some excuse."

Yang nodded, tossing her shovel to the side of the clearing. "J-just leave your sh-shovels here," she ordered. "I thuh-think we sh-should c-come back and w-work on it wh-whenever w-we have the t-time."

"I doubt we'll all be able to come out here every day," Blake pointed out, laying her shovel down next to Yang's far more gently than Yang's careless over-the-shoulder toss.

"N-No," Yang agreed. "S-so... m-maybe we sh-should just c-c-come down wh-whenever we have the tuh-time."

"But nobody should come out alone," Pyrrha added in, her eyes scanning the trees around them as she lowered her own shovel into the pile. "Nobody- no reason."

"R-Right," Yang nodded. "If you h-have the t-time, head to A S-Simple Wok- nobody c-come out h-here w-without..." She paused for a moment, thinking it over. "I th-think... th-three puh-people m-minimum. Everyone agree?"

"Aye," the clearing returned- none of them were exactly keen on going alone anyways.

"S-so!" Yang clapped her hands together, turning to Ren. "T-time for the elephant in the ruh-room..."

Everyone's shoulders tensed...

"Whu-what happened to y-your hair?"

Then slouched again. Nora gave a slight laugh at the rapid change in mood.

"Oh, actually... I was going to ask _you_ that," Ren admitted, reaching up and brushing against the lock of hair that had steadfastly retained its dye. "When you were over last night, was there some sort of hazing... initiation... thing?"

"Hazing initiation thing?" Weiss repeated dryly. "Not unless the others did it without telling me."

" _My_ initiation was telling stories around a campfire," Pyrrha recalled. "Why? What happened?"

"I woke up this morning, took a shower, and my hair turned pink," Ren explained. "I thought one of you might... have..."

He slowed to a stop as he followed everyone else's gaze- Yang's amused, Pyrrha and Jaune bemused, Blake and Weiss crossing their arms and narrowing their eyes- towards a suddenly very-sheepish-looking Nora Valkyrie.

"Hehehe... I _may_ have forgotten about that little prank..."

Ren chuckled. "So it was _you,_ was it?"

"Sorry," Nora practically whispered, scratching the back of her head. "I just... I just wanted to make you feel welcome... I guess?"

"Nora," Weiss shook her head. "How are you going to make anyone feel welcome by _pranking_ them?"

"It's alright," Ren intervened. "I don't mind."

"You... you don't?" Nora asked, raising her eyes towards his hopefully.

"It's kind of... refreshing, to be honest," he smiled at her. "I never really had friends to mess around with growing up- everyone usually hated me , felt sorry for me, or just ignored me- nobody really cared to just... play around a bit."

Nora's eyes brightened. "Oh, _Renny!_ " she crowed, leaping to her feet and tackling him in another hug. "I'll _never_ ignore you, I promise!"

Blake sighed, but found herself smiling nonetheless as she addressed Ren- "I'm afraid you have no idea the Pandora's Box you've just opened up, Ren."

"Should I start making funeral arrangements?" Weiss asked, eliciting laughter from the others.

Eventually, Nora pulled away, eyeing him up and down. "You know, though- now that I look at it... it kinda looks good on you."

Ren blinked, then adopted a rather thoughtful expression, running his hand along the lock again. "You think so? I definitely don't want to go to the trouble of dyeing all my hair, but if you guys like the look with just the one streak..."

As the others expressed their opinions with general shrugs and noncommittal answers (aside from Nora suddenly going starry-eyed and nodding fast enough to create a ginger blur,) Yang turned her gaze towards the _real_ elephant in the room- the journal she'd been throwing some none-too-subtle glances at throughout their digging session. Steadily, she moved across the clearing before lifting it up, carrying it back to the others.

"And... wh-what about... th-this?"

The others' expressions fell again, but they began gathering around nonetheless, eyes all fixed on the book, full of knowledge about their adversary.

Ren's face took on a far more serious expression. "Yeah... yeah, I can show you."

He took the book from her and knelt down in the shade of a nearby tree- swiftly, the others gathered around and watched intently as he opened the book, revealing pages and pages of newspaper cuttings, handwritten addendums, photographs, notes and transcriptions from books, and several sketches.

Nora's eyes were taken by the sketches- "Oh... an artist!" she chirped. "Maybe you could draw something for me one day?"

"Maybe," Ren chuckled. "Maybe."

As he continued flicking through the pages, glancing back every now and again to gauge his audience's interest, he finally asked, "So... where should we start?"

The others stared at each other- eventually, Blake answered. "You mentioned Menagerie yesterday- why don't you start there?"

Detecting some subtle tones of hostility in her voice, and remembering her reaction the previous day, Ren nodded, while internally deciding to tread lightly around this subject. He found a dark-colored bookmark wedged between the pages, and flipped to that section. A gasp arose from the others grouped around him upon seeing an actual photo of that night's carnage- the building had been burned down to its foundation, and there was no small amount of shuddering when they spied some very humanoid shapes amongst the debris.

"This is where my investigation started," Ren began. "My father was in the bar, too. He used to tell me stories- stories about a man in green that worked to evacuate the bar, only to disappear afterwards, stories about the people behind the burning, stories from all sides... but there was one in particular that always stuck with me. According to him, when he got out, there was a woman on the outside- a woman with mismatched hair and eyes."

He turned the page, revealing a sketch- somewhat cruder than the others- showing the bar mid-blaze, and standing next to it, a smirking woman, disturbingly familiar to them all.

"Are you saying... are you saying _she_ did it?" Jaune asked nervously.

"No..." Blake shook her head. "It was the Black Fang- everyone knows that."

"Right," Ren agreed. "Nobody saw her _start_ the fire, but she was definitely there. What's more... the fire came on the tail end of a year full of disappearances- just like this one. Except afterwards, they stopped- for all the disappearances going on, once Menagerie burned down, they just came to a screeching halt."

From there, he grabbed a handful of pages and turned them over, heading to a portion of text he'd just filled in a couple days ago. "The interesting thing is... the disappearances _started_ with an act of violence, too. Nothing to do with faunus- this is the story I told you yesterday. A group of bandits had invaded Vale, and the townspeople killed them- _all_ of them. After that, they just... _forgot_ about it. That's when the disappearances started- and kept going until Menagerie."

They all glanced at each other nervously- they really didn't like the picture being painted in front of them. "And..." Pyrrha began. "You say... you say this happened before?"

"A streak of disappearances?" Ren clarified. "Yes. Twenty-seven years before the incident with the bandits, there was the Nightshade Circus- I'm sure you've all heard of it."

"The old fairgrounds," Blake practically whispered. "That's where... that's where _I_ saw her..."

Jaune bit his lip. "That's the year the circus came to town... but then people started vanishing..."

"People were vanishing before that," Ren corrected, turning solemnly back to his journal and flicking through the pages again. "It's true that things got worse once the circus came to town, but it wasn't the _start._ The start was with the assassination of Amber Bailey."

"Who?" Jaune asked, only for Blake to perk up again.

"Amber Bailey- she was an advocate for faunus rights, wasn't she? I'd _heard_ she was killed in this town, but I never heard any details..." Her voice turned bitter. "Did the Black Fang kill _her,_ too?"

"No," Ren shook his head. "Believe it or not... it was the _White_ Fang."

Weiss blinked. "But... but that makes no sense. If this woman was speaking in _defense_ of faunus, why would they target her?"

Ren shook his head. "I wish I could tell you. All the records say is that it was a pair of White Fang assassins- Fennec and Corsac Albain, two twin fox faunus. They conspired to kill her, and admitted to it in court. Fennec was the one to land the killing blow- he was executed. Corsac was tried as an accomplice- he got life in prison."

Pyrrha quirked a brow. "And where does... where does _It_ fit into this?"

Ren pored through his notes. "According to the case files, before they confessed, they tried to put the blame on someone else. A woman- and I think you already know how they described her."

Practically whispering, Blake asked, " _Could_ it have been It?"

"I suppose it's possible," Ren admitted. "But I doubt it- from what I've seen, that's not how It works- grand displays like that. Instead, It seems to drive others to do its dirty work for It- let _them_ take the publicity, so it can keep killing from the shadows."

Yang's eyes flickered, and her hands began to clench into fists. Struggling to keep her anger down, she asked, "And... the c-c-c-circus?"

"Right," Ren nodded. "As you know, a year or so after Amber was killed, the Nightshade Circus came to town, and the rate of disappearance spiked. Eventually, the townspeople revolted, running them all out. Only the Ringmaster was caught- or rather, killed. Not by the people this time- he was struck by a bolt of lightning. In the aftermath, it was determined he was behind everything- all the disappearances, even the ones that happened before they arrived."

"That's horrible!" Jaune gasped, eyes wide. "I... I get that he was a bad person already, but for them to say he did something that he _couldn't_ have..."

"Sometimes, people aren't looking for _the_ criminal," Blake volunteered, an extremely bitter look crossing her face. "Sometimes, they're just looking for _a_ criminal- anything to avoid looking at the real problem."

"At any rate," Ren took back over the conversation, "He ended up being buried in an unmarked grave- and for a few weeks after, people swore they saw a woman approaching it and leaving a bowl of ice cream on the spot he was buried."

"Ice cream again?" Pyrrha asked. "I... I don't get it. I just... don't get it."

"There's not much to understand," Ren shook his head. "Who knows why this thing does the things it does?"

"And Vickery Lane?" Weiss spoke up. "You said... you said before that, there was an incident on Vickery Lane?"

"I did," Ren nodded. "The last person to live in the House on Vickery Lane was an old woman- I haven't been able to dig up much on her, except that she was blind. Apparently, in the weeks leading up to her death, she contacted the police a few times- she said she felt something following her, someone watching her outside her home. They thought she was just going senile, so they didn't act. Eventually, someone went in to check up on her... and found her body on the couch. Two stab wounds on her chest, and her throat ripped out."

"Holy Dust..." Weiss whispered, eyes filling with horror.

Ren nodded in agreement. "Eventually, the killer was found- a crocodile faunus named Tock Urquhart. They never quite pieced together _why_ she did it- she didn't take anything, and as far as anyone can tell, she didn't have a grudge- but the evidence spoke for itself. In her testimony, though, she said she was ordered to do it... ordered by-"

"It," Yang cut him off, not needing to hear it. "She was ordered by It."

Ren nodded. "That would be my assumption as well. After that, nobody felt like buying that old house, leading it to the state it's in today. But more than that... after the old woman's murder, the disappearances started up again. They kept on for two years before the destruction of the Ellis Hotel- destroyed by its own boiler. Almost a hundred casualties... and the disappearances stopped."

He finally stopped turning the pages on a large black-and-white photo, clearly taken from a newspaper. It showed firefighters amongst the ashes of the Ellis Hotel- a mother crying with what looked very much like the remains of her child in her arms- but what truly sent chills down their spines was several feet away from her. Another woman, this one not grieving, but smiling as she licked away at what seemed like an ice cream cone.

Ren lowered the book, standing up and stretching before turning back to the others, who were steadily rising as well- with the exceptions of Jaune, Weiss, and Blake, who continued to flick through the pages, examining all the evidence Ren had collected.

"This thing's been here _far_ longer than just last summer," Ren began, crossing his arms. "If my research is correct, it may predate the town itself. Knowing all that... do you still want to fight it?"

"F-fight it?" Yang scoffed. "I w-want to r-rip out its _h-h-heart."_

"It's scary..." Nora admitted shamefacedly, "but... after all that, we can't just sit back and do _nothing!_ "

"I agree," Pyrrha nodded, a sick look on her face. "To turn away from what we've found _now..._ that would be among the worst things we could possibly do."

Ren nodded. "That's exactly how I feel. Nevertheless, if we _are_ going to fight, we need to-"

"Hey, uh... Ren?" Jaune piped up from the ground nearby. "What's this picture?"

Ren knelt down next to the other boy and glanced at the picture before looking back up. "That's a snapshot from Amber's funeral. Why?"

"Oh, it's just... I didn't think they had color pictures back then..."

Ren's blood turned cold. "They... they didn't."

Catching on, Yang, Pyrrha, and Nora all joined them on the ground, staring intently at the picture, which, sure enough, had suddenly taken on a rich coloring- it was almost as though they were looking through a window.

Then, before anyone could comment on the obvious impossibility before them, it began to move.

The image perfectly detailed Vale's main street, down which several people dressed in black were walking. In their midst was a large red coffin- it seemed almost as if they could reach out and touch it if they wanted.

For a moment, Jaune was tempted to do so. Entranced by what he was seeing, he raised a hand and gently reached towards the photo, only for Ren to panic when he saw his new friend so close to making contact.

"Jaune, no!" he yelped, but it was too late- Jaune's finger had touched the photo- but instead of stopping, it had passed right through.

However, it only made it a couple centimeters before Jaune pulled his hand back with a sharp cry of pain. "Jaune!" Pyrrha cried, grabbing his hand and examining it closely. "What happened?!"

The others turned and winced- etched into Jaune's finger was an incredibly deep cut, clean and precise as if it had been done by a surgeon. "My hand..." Jaune whispered, eyes wide at what had happened. "My _finger..._ "

The next distraction came in the form of music. They all turned back to the photo, where the music was quite clearly originating- but instead of the somber funeral march one might have expected upon seeing the image, it was more upbeat, more happy- something one would expect from...

"Is..." Nora gulped as she attempted to give voice to their suspicions. "Is that an ice cream truck?"

Sure enough, while the tune was slowed and warped, it was undoubtedly the tune that would play if an ice cream truck were passing by.

"There... there!" Weiss suddenly cried, pointing to the corner of the photo, where a van was entering the frame, decorated with images of ice cream- primarily a combination of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.

Despite how odd and out-of-place it was, none of the men and women in black seemed to pay it any mind, continuing on with the funeral as if nothing unusual were happening.

The van screeched to a halt, the music continuing to warble out as the door opened and a woman stepped out.

No... not _a_ woman... _the_ woman.

The woman gleefully gazed around at the funeral-goers, dark mischief alight in her mismatched eyes. She began to skip and cavort around the funeral as if it was the most fun she'd had in years- until her eyes made contact with the area that the camera would be.

They could tell- it was blatantly obvious- that she wasn't looking at a cameraman, but through the lens, across almost fifty years, and spying the young men and women currently staring, open-mouthed and horrified, at this image upon the page.

She began dancing to the music again, slowly making her way up towards a lamppost right next to the camera. She seized it and began to spin around, defying gravity as she worked her way up, rather than down, and causing them all to jump when she appeared right in front of them, her smirking face filling up the frame.

In their horror, it took them a second to realize that she was speaking.

"-kill you all!" she was cackling. "I'll drive you crazy, then I'll kill you all! I am every nightmare you've ever had- every one of your fears given life, and you think you can fight _me?_ I am the alpha and the omega of perfect terror- and you will be just another meal to me!"

As she spoke, she raised one of her hands, and upon completing her brief monologue, she thrust it forward, directly at the camera.

Except it didn't stop. Much like Jaune's finger, her hand- her _arm-_ didn't stop where it should have. It continued, coming directly out of the page, and seizing onto the nearest object it could find- the sidetail of one Weiss Schnee.

Weiss began to scream as her head was dragged down towards the book by her hair.

Panic spread quickly, shouts and screams of surprise and terror all making themselves known- but Blake was the first to act on that fear. She raised a fist and slammed it into the book, knocking it towards the ground. As if in surprise, the hand's grip slackened, allowing Weiss to pull back, quickly scrabbling as far away from the book as possible. The moment it landed on the ground, Blake leapt to her feet and delivered the strongest kick she could muster to the book's spine, sending it across the clearing before landing face-down on the other side.

It took several minutes for the team to recover- Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren turned their attention to Weiss, who was still screaming and grasping at her hair where she'd so nearly been pulled into the book's embrace, while Yang and Nora were left struggling to console a still-panicking Blake.

"NO!" she was shrieking, her arms raised to cover all four of her ears as she curled up on the ground. "NO- NO, NO, NO! THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN! THAT CAN'T HAVE HAPPENED! THIS ISN'T REAL! NONE OF THIS IS REAL!"

"Blake!" Yang raised her voice, even as she continued to run her hands through her friend's hair, spending a little more time in the area of her feline ears. "Blake! I kn-know y-y-you're sc-scared... b-but w-we have to f-f-face it... that w-was ruh-real..."

"No!" Blake continued to screech, albeit at a slightly lower volume. "It's not! It can't be! This isn't possible- this isn't really happening!"

Yang raised Blake to her feet and pulled her into a bear hug. "It's a-a-alright, B-Blake," she whispered, even as she had to fight through her stutter to say so. "W-we all s-s-saw it... y-y-you're n-not alone..."

"I don't want this!" Blake's voice had lowered again- she was now sobbing into Yang's shoulder. "None of us... we didn't ask for this! Why... why us?!"

Yang looked up as she continued to stroke Blake's hair- it seemed Weiss had calmed down. Jaune assisted her in rising to her feet, and they steadily moved forward, reconvening with the rest of the team. "I g-g-guess... b-b-because n-no one e-e-else will," Yang offered weakly. "Y-y-you've s-s-seen it... even i-in all of R-R-Ren's stuh-stories... p-p-people j-just want to f-forget... to t-t-turn away..."

Blake gripped Yang tighter, her tears continuing to flow. Slowly, the others gathered around her, commencing a large group hug. First Nora, then Weiss took Blake's sides, as Pyrrha and Jaune took the back. Finally, Ren, the tallest among them, did his best to wrap his arms around them all.

"It's g-g-going to be okay, B-Blakey," Yang whispered. "It's g-going to b-be... okay."

And there they stood, heedless to the passage of time as Blake's sobs steadily returned to steady breathing, and she began to return their embrace.

 _XXXX_

Please R&R, constructive criticism, questions, and flames embraced, Gamer4 out.


	34. Nora Valkyrie Witnesses a Fall (C)

Gamer4 in. Things may start getting a little weird this chapter- just a heads-up. If you're cool with that, let's continue.

Disclaimer: Like the smell of a rose on a summer's day, I will be there to take all your fears away- with a touch of my hand, I will turn your life to... gold!

Chapter XXXIII

Nora Valkyrie Witnesses a Fall

"Hands together."

The words were spoken quietly, softly, but carried as much authority as if they'd been barked by a drill sergeant. Yang looked up, bringing her story to a close as she spied Ren's eyes, fixed on all his friends, waiting for them to offer their hands. His were already extended.

Looking around, she thought she saw what had urged Ren into this order- the lights had begun to dim. Not to an extreme level, but quite perceptibly, as if a cloud had passed in front of the sun- the issue, of course, being that it was currently the dead of night. It had taken on a slightly... unhealthy look, as well- or at least, those were the best words she could think of to describe it. Where the normal lighting fo the library had a rich, yellow coloring, it had taken on a faint, bluish-grey hue that put her in mind of disease and famine. She could tell she wasn't alone in this sentiment- upon noticing the odd lighting, Weiss reached into her purse and took a few clearly uncomfortable pulls on her inhaler.

Blood was beginning to spread- where it had previously been restricted to the words on the top floor, there were now streaks and handprints on the lower level, and, if she wasn't mistaken, a few footprints etched into the carpet around their sofas. The words on the wall were beginning to replicate themselves, etching themselves across the wall further and further- _WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE WHEN SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE RIGHT BEFORE SHE DIED?_ Subtle variations, but all ultimately bearing the same message.

The rest of Team Loser was glancing between her and Ren. She nodded. "W-what he said. H-hands together."

As one, everyone extended their arms and created a chain, of sorts. Ren grasped Jaune's hand, who in turn grasped Weiss's, who was also holding Yang's, who was also holding Nora's, who was also holding Pyrrha's, who completed the loop by holding on to Ren's.

They held on tightly, closing their eyes and taking comfort in their friends' holds.

A heavy weight seemed to lift from their chests- a weight they hadn't recognized until it vanished.

When they opened their eyes again, the light had brightened again, though it still seemed somewhat sickly. The blood was still there, but it seemed less... threatening, somehow.

Ren gazed around at everybody, and they could read his lips as he mouthed- _Don't acknowledge it. Just keep going like normal._

They nodded, but didn't release each other's hands as Weiss turned to Yang. "She... she wasn't a coward, Yang."

"I kn-kn-know," Yang nodded, returning to the focal point of her tale. "Shuh-she w-went into th-the final b-battle with the ruh-rest of us... sh-she's the one who i-insisted on m-making the p-promise in the f-f-first place."

"Then why?" Jaune asked, looking up at them with faint tears in her eyes. "Why did she do it? Why did she...?"

Pyrrha looked down at her lap. "I think... I think all this affected her on a... a deeper level than we can know." She looked up to see everyone else staring at her, hanging on to her every word. "I mean, yes, It represents a real, physical threat, but that's not what made her afraid- I think she was more afraid of what it meant in a... broader sense."

"A broader sense?" Nora repeated, tilting her head in confusion.

"If something like It exists," Pyrrha elaborated, "then what else is out there? Are there more... more Its? What else is out there in a world that allows a creature like It to exist? And in all of that, where do we fit in? It seems to me that questions like that disturbed her far more than the threat of the creature itself."

A long silence followed, before Ren picked up where they had left off. "But Weiss is right- Blake was no coward." Once he was certain he had everyone else's attention, he continued. "As you know, I've been... following your activities over the years. I apologize if you see it as a breach of privacy, but I had to know what you were up to before I..."

"Called us over," Jaune nodded. "Yeah, don't worry about it."

Ren smiled faintly. "It was... interesting, watching you all grow so successful. I'll admit, I don't know how it happened, but somehow, you all shook this town off and really made something of yourselves. Used to be, Weiss was the only rich one, and even then, only because of her father." He leaned back, his smile growing wider and warmer. "Look at you all now."

A cumulative blush seemed to go over them all. "Well... I wouldn't say I'm _super_ successful..." Nora practically whispered, rubbing the back of her head shyly.

"Oh, really? One of the most influential comedians of all time?" Ren directed his smiling gaze. "Be honest- how many of you _don't_ make in the realm of six figures a year?"

The others exchanged looks- none of them could bring themselves to say otherwise.

Ren nodded. "So I thought. I don't know if it has something to do with what happened here, but Team Loser aren't exactly losers anymore."

"But then..." Nora asked, raising a hand to her chin in thought. "What about _you?_ "

"Well, I guess you'd be hard-pressed to find someone in Vale who doesn't know me," Ren shrugged. "I mean, I'm not _wealthy,_ but I'm not exactly _poor_ either. Especially with my little side business."

"But you're not to _our_ level either," Weiss pointed out. "If you're right- if it has something to do with what happened when we were kids- then why not you?"

"Because he stayed," Jaune spoke up, his eyes shifting guiltily from side to side. "He _could_ have had something like what we have, but he chose to stay behind- to be the beacon we'd all come back to."

The guilt he was feeling seemed to spread to the others- they found themselves looking down in shame. "Well, _I_ feel like a real jerk now..." Nora whispered.

Ren, however, shook his head. "It wasn't up to any of you. At the end of that summer, lots of families were packing up and leaving- it seems only natural you all got caught up in it. You headed out with your parents, I stayed behind with mine. It wasn't anybody's fault- it could just as easily have been Jaune or Weiss that stayed behind. It was just chance that it was me."

Weiss shook her head back. "I don't know if I could have done it," she admitted. "Staying here for twenty-seven years... without all of you, it would have been hell."

"It wasn't... all bad," Ren said reassuringly- though the others noticed a slight hesitation in his voice. "I still had my parents, and by the time I lost them, I'd become a well-respected member of the community."

"B-But still," Yang interjected. "I-if you d-didn't have to st-stay here..."

"I didn't _have_ to do anything," Ren interrupted firmly. "I stayed because I _chose_ to."

"It doesn't sound like much of a choice to me," Pyrrha muttered. After a moment, she broke into a smile. "Still, I'm glad you made it."

"Yeah!" Nora agreed, breaking into a grin of her own. "Come on, guys!" She reached for the bottle representing the last of Weiss's wine, pouring a little into each of their cups before leaping to her feet. "To Lie Ren, the Beacon of Team Loser!"

"To the Beacon!" the others agreed, raising their cups and taking a drink, throwing a mix of smirks and smiles in Ren's direction.

Ren lowered his face into his hands to conceal his own smile. "You really are too much..."

Yang's smile faded. "B-but... you were s-s-saying something about B-B-B-Blake?"

Ren raised his head. "Right- of course. I didn't bring up your success to guilt you- only to give you an idea of what I mean when I say that Blake was probably the most successful of all."

"You don't say?" Jaune gave a sad smile. "What was she up to all these years?"

"Becoming the single most successful businesswoman Remnant has ever seen," Ren answered, smiling at Weiss in particular. "Her company, Black Plateau, puts even the Schnee Dust Company to shame."

Weiss's eyes widened. "I'd heard about Black Plateau- only in passing- but I didn't realize _Blake_ was at the head of it!"

"Honestly, even if I'd heard her name, I don't think I'd have connected anything to it," Pyrrha admitted shamefacedly.

"Time will do that," Ren assured her, patting her on the back. "My point is, her success hardly went unnoticed by the faunus community- particularly when she started rolling out programs for faunus in need."

"You're not saying..." Weiss paused. She couldn't bring herself to give voice to the thought.

Ren confirmed her fears with a nod. "Yes- she was approached by the White Fang. They wanted her to use her money and influence to their benefit. If I'm not mistaken, she was even approached by their leader at the time- Adam Taurus."

Everyone's eyes went wide. Adam Taurus was a legend of the worst kind- a faunus that had risen through the ranks of the White Fang using every dirty trick in the book, up to and including killing the previous leader, Sienna Khan, in cold blood. He was feared by humans and faunus alike- the former knew he would kill them on sight for what they were, while the latter knew he would kill them if they didn't extol his twisted world-view. He had already been making a name for himself twenty-seven years earlier, and that was _before_ he had murdered his own leader for the sake of ambition- and even on her darkest day, the day she had had her falling-out with Weiss, Blake had never expressed anything but dread or contempt for the man that viewed himself as all of faunuskind's savior.

"No..." Nora whispered. "Blakey? _Our_ Blakey met with _Adam Taurus?_ "

"As I understand it," Ren continued to elaborate, "he approached her with the idea of a deal- he thought she'd be sympathetic to his cause. Instead, she lured him into a trap for her husband at the time- Sun Wukong. He's a detective in Vacuo- eccentric but efficient, and when his wife offered him the chance to bring in the biggest criminal of the modern era, he jumped at the chance.

"The way I hear it, it was a rough fight, but Sun managed to bring Taurus in alive. What happened next, I think you know already- it was in all the papers."

"He was executed," Pyrrha recalled, a hand to her mouth. "Lethal injection."

"It sounds like something that would have happened here," Weiss commented, looking supremely uncomfortable.

Nora didn't look much better, but she attempted to lighten the situation anyway. "Well, at least they didn't burn him at the stake! I mean, that's how It tried to get me earlier!"

"It tried to burn you?" Ren asked, his eyes narrowing, taking on a sudden urgency.

"I was in the museum," Nora explained quickly. "At first, she tried to put me in a hole- one of those creepy holes, like in that story you told me, way back in the day- but when I got out, she decided to just burn the place to the ground! The smoke was going all around me, and I started coughing, and it was just like- just like..." Her voice trailed off, her eyes growing wide.

"N-Nora?" Yang asked, concern entering her voice.

"I REMEMBER!" Nora burst out, leaping to her feet again, looking from face to face before finally settling on Ren's. "Renny- I remember! The smoke getting in my face, burning my eyes, getting in my lungs... I thought it was all familiar, but I just remembered!"

Ren began to smile again as he looked up at her. "You remembered that, huh?"

"Yeah!" Nora nodded earnestly. "We lit the fire, and the smoke was everywhere, and we... we _saw!_ Ren, we _SAW!_ "

As Ren gave a very satisfied-looking nod, Weiss let out a grunt of frustration. "Nora, get to the point! _What did you see_?"

"Please explain!" Jaune added, nodding in agreement with Weiss. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"You don't?" Nora asked, tilting her head at him. "But Jaune, it was _your_ idea!"

"Pyrrha's," Ren corrected.

"Pyrrha's?" Nora repeated, looking up at the ceiling and raising a contemplative hand to her chin. "Oh, right! Yeah, it _was_ Pyrrha's idea!"

" _W-what_ was P-Pyrrha's idea!" Yang burst out, joining Weiss and Jaune in the ranks of frustration.

Nora raised her hands in surrender. "I'm getting there, I'm getting there!"

"Oh, good," Pyrrha smiled. "Nora's turn to tell a story. Ready to translate, Ren?"

"Hush, you!" Nora fired at her. "It wasn't long after the incident with the journal- it happened the day we

XXXX

finally finished the clubhouse- which, all said, took roughly the next week.

In Yang's opinion, the going could hardly have been slower, as she was the only one who managed to come each and every day, while everyone else had prior obligations and projects of their own to attend to.

Weiss, of course, had to work to extract herself from the manor for even the most minor of excursions, let alone something like this. By the following week, she had only managed to come down to the Emerald Forest twice- both times, however, she had brought with her some much-needed wood, which Jaune and Yang helped her smuggle out of her house to avoid questions from her father. After all, he thought she had bought it for a school project- he was _not_ to know about the activities going on in the Emerald Forest.

Jaune was probably present for the most amount of time- with the exception of Yang, of course. He stayed true to Yang's orders, ensuring that their secret headquarters came out as a near-perfect rectangle cutting into the earth. When Weiss brought wood, he worked with Yang- and some tools smuggled away from her own father- to place them in the dirt they were digging into, bolstering the sides to help ensure the soil didn't simply collapse in on itself. Once this was done, he got started on constructing a wooden roof for the clubhouse- a thing of beauty that would be covered with loose dirt and leaves to conceal it, and complete with a trapdoor on the edge to allow entry.

"Y-Y-Y'know, Vomit B-Boy," Yang commented one day, observing his work on one of her few breaks outside of digging, "you sh-sh-should've b-been in w-w-woodshop."

"I doubt Mom would have been on board with that," Jaune waved aside as he continued to hammer some nails into two of the planks, binding them together. "She doesn't like when I have to get home late."

Yang chuckled, and, sensing an opportunity for teasing, snuck up behind him. "M-Momma's boy, h-huh?" she whispered seductively. " _I'll_ b-be your m-mommy..."

She threw back her head and laughed again at the brilliant blush this inspired in her fellow blond.

Ren and Nora both made it out whenever they could- Ren was intent on showing his commitment to their 'summer project,' and continued to be steady in digging his way through the soil, as well as in woodwork, though he mostly followed Jaune's instructions.

Nora, though she didn't tell anyone, was trying to prepare herself for the showdown that she was certain was approaching- the showdown with the creature threatening her hometown. She could practically hear music in her head, a theme song being played over a dramatic narration- _As Nora Valkyrie and her friends prepare for the fight of their lives..._

Blake, meanwhile, was focusing more on mental preparation- it disturbed her how easily this thing was able to scare her, and she was now spending her time struggling to cope with the thing they'd discovered lurking in their hometown. This resulted in a lot of time alone, and very little time to spend on the clubhouse itself, though she always strived to make up for her absence when she _was_ present.

At long last was Pyrrha, who was spending a great deal of time in the library- even more than usual. A couple of nights after they had begun the clubhouse, she met with Jaune on the Forest's outskirts and practically dragged him into the library.

"Hey, Pyrrha!" he greeted her in surprise. "What's... what's going on?"

"I have an idea," she whispered to him- not out of secrecy, but because they were in the middle of a library. "I want you to help me go through some books."

"Why? Is something going on?"

"Well, I just thought, even when we finish the clubhouse, we _still_ don't know where to go from here," she explained. "I thought, maybe if we dig through some books, we might be able to find some more information on this... this thing."

"But didn't Yang and Nora already look?" Jaune pointed out.

"They looked through their _own_ books," Pyrrha corrected. "But that seems like a good place to start- we can start by looking for any mentions of tanetanes or that... that fire walk thing Yang mentioned. If we can figure out what that is,it would be a _huge_ step forward. Are you with me?"

Jaune hesitated, but ultimately nodded. "Right," he spoke firmly, voice full of determination. "Let's do this."

XXXX

In one of the coincidences that was growing increasingly common that summer, the day that Team Loser finally completed their clubhouse was also the first day since they began construction that each and every one of them was present.

They all gathered around the hole as Yang and Jaune put the final touches into place- a bit of soil moved here, a rock or two thrown out there, and a wooden beam every foot or so along the perimeter. They had already placed a set of logs in a circle around the pit's center for seating, so when they climbed out, all that was left to do was move Jaune's wooden ceiling into place.

As it was finally laid down with a satisfying _thud,_ Yang turned and grinned at all the others. "It... is... _c-complete!_ " she announced cheerfully, taking a bow. "Th-thank you, th-thank you, Team L-Loser will b-be here all s-summer..."

The others smiled at their leader's antics. "I'll get to work on covering it up," Ren said, before setting about sweeping some leaves across the forest floor.

"And _I_ have a job-well-done present for everybody!" Nora announced, grinning as she reached into a small bag she'd brought with her- no one had paid much attention to it before.

"What is it, Nora?" Weiss asked warily, more than used to the girl's propensity for pranks.

"Cool yourself, Ice Queen!" Nora shrugged off her concern, eliciting a 'Hey!' in response. "I just thought, since we're an official, super-special-awesome club now, we need a super-special-awesome way to recognize each other!"

Blake sighed. "Nora, we already _know_ each other."

"Zip it!" Nora hissed, before lightening up again. "So... now we just need how to divide _these_ babies up!"

She turned the bag over, emptying seven objects into her hand.

Ren took a break from his leaves to comment- "Chess pieces?"

"Of course!" Nora beamed, holding up two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and a queen. "Now, _obviously,_ I'm the queen, so-"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Pyrrha interrupted, raising her hands. " _Yang's_ the leader here- wouldn't that make _her_ the queen?"

Nora blanched. "Well, yeah, but-"

Yang chuckled. "N-Nora c-can have the q-queen if sh-she wants."

"It _does_ seem more logical to give it to you," Weiss interjected. "Dust help us the day _Nora's_ our leader."

Nora pouted slightly, but returned to a good-natured smile as she surrendered her beloved queen piece to Yang. "I guess democracy isn't working out for me this time," she shrugged. "I guess, if I can't be a _queen,_ I'll be a _castle_ instead!" Her eyes brightened as she examined one of the rooks. "Yeah... I can still be a queen! Yang is _the_ Queen, but I'm _a_ queen- queen of the castle!"

Ren chuckled. "Have it as you will, Nora," he smiled, looking through the remaining pieces. "I guess I see myself as more of a bishop..."

Nora's smile faltered as he accepted one of the taller pieces remaining. "Wait... bishop?"

"Yeah- is something wrong with that?"

Nora bit her lip, looking between the rook and Ren. "I... I changed my mind!" she announced. "Queens are boring anyway- I'll be the other bishop!"

The others exchanged a smirk between them, causing the red on Nora's cheeks to darken, but ultimately, only Weiss spoke, and rather than addressing what was on all their minds, she simply said, "Now, all we need is for her to decide on a knight." Stepping forward, she examined the pieces for herself. "Let's see... I've always been fond of horses, myself." She reached out and took one of the knights she'd just commented on.

Blake stepped forward, mischief still alight in her eyes. "You want to change to knight now, Nora?"

"No!" Nora insisted, looking away. "I'm sticking with bishop!"

Blake laughed lightly, but pressed no further. "Let's see... I guess _I'll_ take the other knight, then."

Nora turned to Pyrrha and Jaune. "So, are you two okay with the castles?"

"Rooks, Nora," Pyrrha corrected, smiling gently as she approached. "And yes, I'd be delighted to accept one."

"Anything's fine by me," Jaune agreed. They both extended their hands and took the remaining pieces as one.

Nora looked at the sole remaining piece- the other bishop- for a moment, then smiled. "Well, I guess that makes it official! Who are we?"

She glanced around, waiting eagerly for the response, only to sulk when only Ren actually responded- and even he sounded more like he was asking. "Team Loser?"

"Come _on,_ guys!" Nora pouted again, waving her arms theatrically. "How are we supposed to take It down if we can't even chant together?!"

The others exchanged exasperated looks with each other, but they saw the same sentiment in the others' eyes- _Just go with it, it'll be over faster._

"Right!" Nora nodded, her arms crossed in satisfaction. "One more time! Who are we?"

"Team Loser," the group chanted back half-heartedly.

"I can't _hear you!"_ Nora pushed. "LOUDER! WHO... ARE... WE?!"

"TEAM LOSER!"

" _Now_ you're talking!" Nora nodded brightly, her hands on her hips. Glancing around, her smile faded. "So... what now?"

Yang, who had just been smiling at her second-in-command's antics, faltered. "Er..."

Weiss turned to Yang, her arms crossed, and a frown beginning on her face. "Xiao Long... do you mean to tell me you did all this without a plan?"

"I h-h-had a p-plan!" Yang objected. "F-finish the c-clubhouse... s-something something... hunt d-down It!"

"And... you didn't bother to think about how we'd do that?" Blake objected, her eyebrows furrowing as she joined Weiss in crossing her arms. "Or _how_ you intend to fight it if we do?"

"It... it w-was a w-work in p-progress, okay!" Yang objected, quailing slightly beneath her teammate's glares.

*A-hem!*

Everyone turned to see Jaune smiling. "Well... if you all want to test out the clubhouse... I think Pyrrha and I might have the answer you're looking for."

XXXX

A moment later, they'd all entered the clubhouse through the trapdoor in its ceiling and taken seats on the logs. With the trapdoor shut, there was very little light- only whatever could creep in through the spaces in the boards. As a result, only Blake could see particularly well.

"Alright," Yang announced. "L-Let this muh-meeting of Team L-Loser commence! T-To begin w-with... d-does anyone h-have any ideas on h-how to f-fight our enemy?"

Jaune looked up, confused. "I already told you guys, Pyrrha and I-"

"I kn-know, I know," Yang waved aside. "I j-just wanted to h-hear if anyone e-else is onto s-something."

"I... got nothing," Nora admitted, smiling sheepishly.

Ren shook his head- "I've told you just about everything I know. Believe me, if I knew of a weakness, you'd know, too."

Blake looked at the ground and said nothing.

Weiss, however, glanced to the side, looking somewhat uncomfortable.

"Y-You have s-something, Ice Q-Queen?" Yang asked, smiling.

"How many times do I have to ask you not to call me that?" Weiss asked exasperatedly. "But yes... yes, I have an idea... kind of."

"Ooohh!" Nora grinned. "Care to share?"

"Not until it's ready!" Weiss looked further away. "It's... it's stupid, and... and I don't want to bring it up until I'm sure I have..."

The others watched her, but it was steadily becoming clear that she wasn't going to speak any further today.

"A-alright, then," Yang shrugged. "Over t-to you t-two, I g-guess..."

Jaune turned to grin at Pyrrha, only to blink when he saw her shying away. "Pyrrha... don't you want to tell them?"

"I... well, it seems a little silly, now that we're here." Pyrrha seemed to be trying to force herself to shrink- a futile endeavor if there ever was one.

"But it's such a good idea- you're a genius!"

The others couldn't tell whether the glowing emitting from Pyrrha's direction was from embarrassment or pride, but either way, it was almost enough to use her as a flashlight. "Maybe... maybe you should open up."

Jaune shrugged. "If you say so." He turned to the others. "So- you all know how Yang had that theory- you know, that It's a tanetane?"

"A tanetane?" Ren asked, surprised.

"A monster from Atlesian lore-" Weiss started.

"No, no, I know what tanetanes are," Ren waved his hands. "It's just... I'm surprised that never occurred to _me_ before."

"Of course you've heard of them!" Nora beamed. "You know _everything,_ don't ya?"

With that, it was Ren's turn to blush. "I certainly wouldn't say I know _everything..._ "

"So, do you know how to kill 'em?"

Ren's smile faltered. "No... no, I've never heard any stories to that effect..."

"As I recall, Yang's research turned up something about...a fire walk?" Weiss recalled.

"Th-that's what the b-books said," Yang agreed. "Th-they didn't g-give any d-details, though."

"That's why Pyrrha and I went to the library!" Jaune piped up, smiling. "It was her idea, really- she wanted to dig a little deeper and see if we couldn't dig up anything more about this fire walk thingy!"

The others turned their eyes towards Jaune and Pyrrha, interest alight. "And?" Blake prompted. "Did you find anything?"

Jaune smiled at Pyrrha. " _She_ did- like I said, she's a genius!" Clapping her on the back, he whispered, "Go on, Pyrrha! Even Blake's interested now! Tell 'em what we found out!"

The goofy smile spreading across Pyrrha's face at Jaune's praise led Nora, at least, to speculate that Jaune could have asked her to put on cement shoes and high-dive into the Haven River and received the exact same enthusiastic nod.

"Right- of course," she agreed. "Well... you see... we didn't find anything about the fire walk _itself,_ but we found out something the participants would do before actually going out to fight.

"According to what we found, when a tribe or clan was under threat by a tanetane, they would choose a group of warriors they believed capable of performing the fire walk. Once they had all of them, they shut them in closed-off room full of smoke and left them there. They were free to leave at any time, but whoever could stand the smoke the longest, standing their ground no matter how bad it got- they would have visions. Visions that would tell them what to do next- and those visions were _always_ right."

Pyrrha blushed a little at the silence following her speech. "Like I said, it's a little silly..."

"It _does_ seem rather far-fetched," Weiss agreed, suddenly looking uncomfortable. "Perhaps we would be better served to-"

"Aw, you're not gonna run away from a little smoke, are ya, Ice Queen?" Nora asked, pulling her friend into a headlock and delivering a noogie. "A little smoke never hurt anybody!"

"Beep beep Nora!" Weiss objected, pulling away. "And you're wrong! In fact, in most fires, it's the smoke that _kills_ people- _not_ the fire itself! I think I have every right to be concerned about this course of action, and-"

"Well, you heard what she said," Ren interjected. "You don't have to stick it out to the end- only one of us does. Anything they see, they can tell the others."

"Don't tell me _you're_ going along with this!" Weiss objected.

"W-Weiss," Yang spoke up, fixing her icy blue gaze with her own calm azure. "I a-agree... it's w-weird. B-but if th-there's even a _wuh-one_ percent ch-chance that this'll h-help us fuh-find R-R-R...Ruby... isn't that a chu-chance w-worth taking?"

Weiss bit her lip, glancing around at the others. "... _One_ of these days, that excuse will stop working..."

Yang glanced around again. "A-alright... all in f-f-favor of d-doing the smuh-smokehouse r-r-ritual, raise y-y-your hand."

To her surprise, the vote was unanimous- even Blake raised her hand in its favor. "B-Blakey?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"...I've heard of similar rituals before," Blake muttered. "Maybe... maybe there's more to it than we think."

Yang nodded, glancing around. "W-well... l-let's get st-started!"

" _Now?"_ Weiss asked, surprised.

"Nuh-No time l-like the p-present!" Yang nodded. "J-Jaune, N-Nora, h-help me b-build a fuh-fire pit. The r-rest of you, g-get some f-fuel."

She stood and opened the trapdoor, leading the exodus out.

"The wetter, the better," Ren amended Yang's previous order.

"Heh... that's what she said," Nora snickered.

Ren rolled his eyes. "The fuel- the wetter it is, the more smoke it will produce. If we're going to do this, we ought to do it properly."

"Ruh-right," Yang nodded. "S-so... as m-much w-wet wood, l-leaves, t-twigs, whatever you c-c-can find. We d-don't kn-know how long this'll t-t-take, so j-just g-get as muh-much as p-p-possible."

A nod went through the group, and once more, they got to work.

XXXX

It didn't take quite as long as Yang thought for herself, Jaune, and Nora to gather enough rocks to build a nice ring in the center of the logs, prompting them to begin searching for some damp mulch to add to the fire themselves. As they did, Yang turned an eye towards Jaune, biting her lip. "H-Hey, J-Jauney boy," she greeted, offering the brightest smile she could.

"Yeah, Yang?" Jaune asked, a load of branches already in his arms.

"I w-was thuh-thinkin'... the Ice Q-Queen's ruh-right, you know. Sm-sm-smoke's more d-dangerous th-than the f-fire itself... m-maybe s-someone oughtta... k-keep w-watch on the outside... m-make s-sure the rest of us d-don't..."

Jaune looked at her, a note of hurt in his eyes. "You... you want me to sit this out?"

"N-No, no, not l-like that!" Yang shook her head fervently. "It's j-just... if anybody c-could keep an eye out f-for the others-"

"Is it- do you think I'm weak?" Jaune asked, prompting Yang to cringe. This was _not_ how she wanted this conversation to go. "That I can't handle it?"

"J-Jaune, it's r-really not l-like-"

"What's up with you two?"

They spun around to see the rest of Team Loser approaching, led by Weiss, whose arms were crossed once again.

"I... I thuh-thought s-someone ought to s-sit out... k-keep w-watch..." Yang explained halfheartedly.

"She wants me to sit out," Jaune put in, eyes on the ground.

A chill ran through the group. Pyrrha bit her lip. "Well... I suppose it could be-"

"Not you, too, Pyrrha!" Jaune shook his head. "I'm _not_ sitting this out- I can handle it! I'm not weak!"

"I'm n-n-not t-trying to say you _a-are!"_ Yang objected. "It's j-just..."

"Then why don't you ask _Weiss_ to sit out?" Jaune objected. " _She's_ the one with the asthma problem!"

"ENOUGH!" Weiss raised her voice, glaring around the clearing. Jaune faltered, wondering if he'd crossed a line.

Weiss kept her eyes on them as she produced her bag from around her shoulder and began rooting through it. As they watched, she produced seven #2 pencils of the exact same shape and color- each brand new out of the pack. Next, she produced a small sharpener, and proceeded to bring one of them to a fine point before turning her back on them, mixing them up and turning around with her hands clenched around them to conceal which was which.

"Whoever draws the sharpened pencil keeps watch," she ordered in a voice that brooked no argument.

Yang gave a weak chuckle. "N-nerd..."

" _For the last time, Xiao Long,_ " Weiss hissed, for neither the first or last time, _"intellectual._ "

She moved over and brandished the pencils in Yang's face. "Go on- leader goes first."

Yang looked around the clearing before clearing her throat and reaching out to take a pencil.

It was flat and untouched.

"You're going in," Weiss affirmed. She then turned on Jaune. "Now you."

Jaune gulped slightly as he reached out to take his pencil- he wanted to argue, but didn't dare.

It was a moot point anyways- his pencil had very clearly not been touched by the sharpener.

"You're going in too." Weiss delivered a rather sarcastic-looking curtsey. "Bravo."

Taking a deep breath, Weiss next turned to Blake. "Care to try your luck?"

Blake smiled slightly. "To be honest, I'm not sure whether I want to go in anyways..."

"Then let fate decide," Weiss suggested, pushing the pencils into her face.

Blake nodded, and took one.

Flat.

"Alright, who's next?"

"Oh, oh, me!" Nora bounced over and began moving her fingers over the pencils. "This little piggy went to market- this little piggy stayed home! This little piggy had roast beef- I'm trying not to think about _that_ one too hard- this little piggy had none! And _this_ little piggy went 'WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!'"- she pulled a pencil from Weiss's clutches- "-all the way home!"

She held up her pencil in triumph- still in brand new mint condition.

Ren stepped forward, smiling. "I suppose I'll go next, then." He reached out and plucked a pencil of his own, smiling when he saw it as flat as the others. "Well, if fate has decreed it, of course I'll be happy to perform the ritual with you."

At long last, Weiss finally turned to Pyrrha. Only two pencils left now. She extended them forward.

Pyrrha examined them uncertainly, eyes flicking between them as if unsure which she even wanted. Finally, she simply closed her eyes before reaching out and rapidly snatching the first one her hand made contact with.

Flat.

"Well... I suppose I'm going in," she shrugged. "...Weiss?"

Weiss wasn't sure how to express her disappointment- it was odd, even to her. She had, after all, been the one to speak out against this idea in the first place, and here she was, given a perfect excuse not to participate, and somehow, it felt... wrong. "I guess... I guess I'm not going in," she muttered, opening her hand to stare forlornly at the tip-

There was no tip.

Her pencil was just as flat and unblemished as the others.

Pyrrha's eyes widened, drawing the attention of the others, who crowded around and gasped at the impossibility in front of them.

Weiss looked uncertainly into Yang's eyes. "I... I didn't fix it. I sharpened it- you saw me-"

"I b-believe you," Yang nodded- Weiss was _not_ the type to fix little contests like these in her favor. Her sense of self-honor wouldn't allow it. But that didn't mean she couldn't make a mistake...

"Sp-spread out," she ordered. "F-find that pencil."

But as thoroughly as they searched the clearing, they could find no missing pencil. Weiss even went back into her purse and rooted through it, only to find pencils that were either unsharpened or far too short to be the one she'd used for their drawing.

Confusion was evident on all their faces as they got back together. "What... what does it mean?" Weiss asked.

Yang glanced around, then finally shrugged. "It m-m-means... we're all g-g-going in."

 _That's the way it's supposed to be._

XXXX

Minutes later, Team Loser had returned to their positions inside the clubhouse, all their collected mulch placed in the center of the stones, where Ren was eyeing them dubiously. "I think this might be a little _too_ wet," he commented. "I'm not sure it'll even light."

"Oh, Renny, did you learn nothing on the fourth?" Nora asked, fluttering her eyelids. "Go on, Weiss- what do you do?"

"I burn!" Yang smirked, reaching out and punching the pile of damp wood and weeds.

"Hotter than the sun in the- blegheghegh!" Nora started, only to be cut off by the billowing cloud of smoke that burst from the fire pit as soon as it ignited.

"Well, at least _one_ good thing's come of this," Weiss commented dryly.

It didn't take long for the noxious cloud to fill the entire clubhouse- it was small and enclosed as was, and the tiny slats above did very little for ventilation. It didn't take long for eyes to start stinging and tearing up, and for Weiss and Blake in particular to begin coughing up a storm. Weiss took a swift pull from her inhaler.

The heat washed over them next, causing Jaune and Ren to start sweating profusely, the girls not far behind. Less than ten seconds after the fire had begun, most of them were already gasping for air. But they remained seated, determined to see this through to the end.

XXXX

Looking back, it came as little surprise to the team that Blake was the first to give out- her enhanced faunus senses must have turned what was already a remarkably uncomfortable experience into sheer torture. Only a minute or two had passed by before the girl was practically bent over double, hacking and coughing as though she had a severe lung disease. Finally, she looked up, tears streaming from her face, and muttered a quick, "Sorry," before jumping to her feet, forcing open the trapdoor, and exiting, granting the others a very brief glimpse of the outside world- and an even briefer breath of fresh air- before it shut and they were, once again, left alone with the smoke.

"This heat... is intolerable," Weiss muttered, taking another pull on her inhaler.

"What's th-that, p-princess?" Yang asked, smirking slightly. "You w-w-want to t-turn it up? Okay!"

The blond reached into their pile of extra branches and leaves, tossing some more in, causing the smoke to increase in intensity.

"You... you oaf!" Weiss objected, hacking harder than ever. "I have half a mind to-"

She froze. She had gone for another pull on the inhaler, only to find it empty. _Oh no... oh, no, oh no!_ Suddenly, she could feel the smoke infiltrating her body, worming its way down into her lungs like a snake, forcing its way through her eyes and nose...

"I... I need to go!" she choked out, leaping to her feet and throwing open the trapdoor. Very swiftly, they saw Blake's arm reach in, helping Weiss to pull herself out.

Pyrrha gratefully turned her nose up towards the fresh air, only to flinch as it started cutting itself off from her again. She threw a tearful eye at the others- Jaune in particular. "I'm sorry!" she practically whimpered as she rose to her feet, catching the trapdoor just before Weiss swung it closed. As soon as they saw what was happening, Blake and Weiss reached back in and helped her out- albeit with loud grunts of effort.

As the dark set in again, Yang turned to the others, eyebrows raising. "And th-then there w-were four," she noted.

"You doing okay, Nora?" Jaune asked, noticing the ginger coughing perhaps a little more than usual.

"Of course I am!" she objected weakly. "What's a little smoke? I _bathe_ in this stuff!"

"How does one _bathe_ in smoke?" Ren wondered.

"Don't try to logic me!" Nora objected, leaning back with her arms crossed.

"Guys..." Jaune interrupted. "Is it just me or... is the clubhouse getting bigger?"

The others snapped to attention, looking around in surprise. When they'd begun, it had been a tight fit- despite all their time digging the hole, there _were_ seven of them- seven healthy young men and women, all crammed into a single pit. A little more elbow room was to be expected, of course, now that three of them had evacuated- but Jaune was right. Even taking the three absent losers into account, the hole suddenly seemed rather spacious. Where they had originally been close enough to touch, it now seemed as though they were sitting on opposite sides of a large table. Yang felt as though she'd have no problem stretching her arms out and moving them in a circle around herself.

Jaune bit his lip, a tint of green entering his face. "Are you okay, Jaune?" Ren asked, noticing his distress.

"I'm... I'm..."

He was _not_ going to duck out now- not after everything he'd gone through just to sit here in the first place. He wasn't weak, he was going to sit it out and see whatever there was to see with the others, he was going to...

He was going to puke if he stayed in here much longer. "I'm gonna be sick," he choked out, leaping to his feet and throwing open the trapdoor with ease. A moment later, Blake and Pyrrha had his hands and were helping him out as well.

The trapdoor shut. "Heh... just three of us now," Nora laughed nervously. "Whatever we're supposed to see, let's hope it pops up soon, huh?"

Yang tried to force a smile, but the truth was, she wasn't doing that well, either. It wasn't the heat- heat never bothered her. The smoke, on the other hand... _that_ was starting to get to her. She hated being placed in positions of powerlessness, and this smoke was one enemy she couldn't just punch her way through. It could do whatever it wanted to her- jab at her eyes, attack her throat and sinuses... and all she could do was sit there and take it.

She had to, though. There wasn't any other choice.

"Guys?" Ren spoke up. "I think it's growing again."

Yang started- Ren's voice was sounding more and more distant. Looking around between the clumps of smoke assailing her senses, she thought she could spy her two remaining friends- and now it was as though they were sitting on opposite ends of a great hall. The clubhouse had _not_ been this large when they'd gotten in- she'd have remembered doing that much digging.

Her face was starting to turn green now, but she forced it back- she had to tough this out. For Ruby's sake, she had to-

Ruby. Her sister, who had been lost because she'd gotten sick. Suddenly, the idea of falling ill again seemed more repulsive than ever before- what if it led to the loss of another friend? What if Weiss went missing this time, or Nora? Blake? Because she had fallen ill?

It was no rational line of thought, but the smoke wasn't leaving much room for logical thinking. Feeling almost as ill as she had on that day, she got to her feet and moved towards the trapdoor. "...S-s-s-s..." She found herself unable to even force out the word before she opened the door, and found herself lifted out by the combined efforts of Blake and Jaune.

Ren and Nora looked at each other. "Weird," Nora commented. "I thought for sure she'd stick in 'til the end..."

"This _is_ rather strenuous," Ren pointed out, despite hardly looking as though the smoke had affected him at all. "What about you? Are _you_ holding out okay?"

"I'm fine!" Nora nodded, struggling to ignore the streams of tears from her eyes.

Ren met her eyes with that piercing gaze of his. "You know, according to Pyrrha, only one of us actually has to make it. You can leave if it gets to be... too much."

Nora chuckled. "I see your game, Renny! You want me to leave so you get all the glory! Well, sorry to break it to ya, but I'm the smarterest person in Vale- you have to get up pretty early in the morning to get one past me!"

Ren laughed lightly. "It seems I've been found out."

The two continued their silent vigil, staring into each others' eyes as if daring each other to leave.

 _I'm not wimping out,_ Nora thought feverishly. _Not in front of Ren- no chickening out!_

"There's not enough smoke!" she finally said aloud. "Let's get some more smoke in here!" She reached out and dropped some more fuel on the fire, causing the already-suffocating smoke to increase in intensity.

Ren's eyes widened slightly, but he gave no other signs of doubt.

"See?" Nora beamed. "Nothing- nothing... to it..."

"Nora?" Ren asked. "Are you... al...right?"

The two of them seemed to be slowing down. The entire world seemed to be moving in slow motion as Nora felt herself lose control and slowly descend towards the ground. Her last senses were flashing lights, an odd screeching sound, and, perhaps strangest of all, the faint smell of coffee before she lost consciousness.

XXXX

"Nora! NORA!"

Nora sat bolt upright. "I'm here, what's happening?!"

Red.

Red was happening. Everywhere she looked, all Nora could see was red.

Large, red trees with red leaves, towering over long red grass, all of which was stained by the sunset- stained a nice shade of red.

She looked to her side and found Ren kneeling down next to her, looking concerned. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I-I'm fine," she shook her head, struggling to clear it. "Where are we?"

Ren looked around them, confusion in his eyes as well. "I think... I think this is the Emerald Forest... but I've never seen it like this..."

"Yeah," Nora agreed, rising to her feet and taking a look around. "What, did someone crash a tanker full of red paint?"

Ren smiled at her ability to make light even of this situation. "I don't think that's what happened, Nora."

"Wait- Ren, do you think this is the vision Pyrrha was talking about?" Nora asked, excitement entering her voice.

"That... would be my guess, yes," Ren nodded.

"Awesome!" Nora jumped in the air. "Come on, let's take a look around!"

"Wait!" Ren called out, seizing her arm. She turned in confusion, allowing him to move his hand from her arm to her palm. "We should stick together."

Nora's eyes widened, then she grinned and nodded eagerly. "Come on! Let's go!"

With that, she charged off into the forest, Ren struggling to keep up.

Eventually, she heard the sound of running water, and made her way towards the source. Her mouth opened in astonishment when she located it- "Is that... the Haven River?"

The body of water tearing through this forest certainly _seemed_ like the same river that flowed through Vale- but it was much too large, and _much_ too fast. Not even at the height of flood season did the Haven River swell to this size and ferocity.

Ren adopted a thinking stance, only for his eyes to widen as he spotted something in the distance. "Nora, watch out!" he called, pulling her to the side.

She turned to see what he had seen- and her jaw dropped as she saw a large creature rushing by, propelled by odd, bird-like appendages. The creature resembled an odd hybrid of lizard and bird, with a lizard-like snout lined with sharp teeth, but with sleek feathers along its body. It moved by too fast for her to make out some of the finer details, but the appendages higher-up on its body could have been either arms or an odd set of wings.

"Ren... did you see that?" she gasped.

"That I did, Nora," he whispered back, his eyes roving around in case any other such creatures sought to make an appearance.

"It was... so... cute!" she burst, grinning.

Ren turned to send an exasperated smile her way. "Cute? It could probably have killed us if it wanted to, and you're calling it cute?"

"But it didn't!" Nora countered. "Oh! I wonder if there are more of them?!"

Ren shook his head slightly before turning and spying another creature. "And what about that one?"

Nora turned and jumped for joy, rushing over to another creature- a large being with bare, greyish-brown skin, a snout that seemed to curve into a beak, a large plate-like structure around its neck about where a lion's mane might be, and three horns- two protruding from its forehead, and a third- smaller- horn emerging from what seemed like its nose.

"These things are so _cool,_ Ren!" Nora beamed, reaching out to touch it.

Ren was about to move to stop her, only for something truly unexpected to happen- her hand passed right through it as though it wasn't even there. "Aw..." Nora muttered, kicking at the dirt beneath her somewhat despondently. "That sucks..."

Ren approached slowly. "Of course... I should have realized. This is just a vision- none of it is real."

"Really?" Nora asked, pouting. "That sucks..."

"You may think so, Nora," Ren shrugged, "but personally, I'd rather not have to deal with the consequences of dealing with these... creatures."

"So what _is_ all this?" Nora wondered. "What does any of this have to do with It?"

Ren returned to his thinking pose. "The red foliage... the river... these creatures... I think it's safe to say that if this _is_ Vale, it's not the one we know..."

"What, is it in the past?" Nora asked jokingly- only to falter when Ren snapped his fingers.

"I think that just might be it," he nodded. "There are no creatures like these around- not anymore. The river isn't that large- anymore. The Emerald Forest is green, not red- or at least, it is _now._ Nora... what we're seeing happened in the past!"

"That's crazy!" Nora pointed out.

Ren looked up, and nodded. "Yes, it is... but I can't think of any other way to explain _that._ "

Nora looked up. "What? It's just the moon?"

"Look closer," Ren ordered. "It's not broken."

Nora looked again, and gasped. Ren was right. Ever since she was a child, she had been taught about the moon's cycles- how it broke apart and reformed continuously, for reasons unknown to the people who lived beneath it. Even when it was together, however, it was very obvious that it wasn't one piece- the dark grooves that ran between the pieces were visible even from the ground below.

"This is... before?"

"Before the moon broke, yes."

Nora returned her gaze to the creature in shock. "So... so this little guy really _did_ exist?!"

"Did," Ren nodded. "As in, not anymore."

"Aw," Nora pouted. "But why, though?"

Abruptly, a crash sounded throughout the forest- it sounded like thunder, but louder and more ferocious than anything they'd ever heard before.

"I think..." Ren said slowly. "I think we're about to find out."

The two turned their gaze to the sky, where, sure enough, a dark storm was brewing. There was another crash, this time punctuated by a flash- a flash of brilliant orange light, arcing across the sky, only for the other part of the sky to seemingly answer back with a resounding thunder-strike of its own, punctuated by lightning in an odd shade of green.

"I... that's... I don't think that's how lightning works," Nora noted, drawing closer to Ren again.

"It's not," Ren agreed, feeling Nora tense as the lightning picked up again, launching back and forth across the sky. He clenched her fist tightly.

She wasn't afraid of lightning- far from it, ever since she'd discovered her semblance, she'd longed to run out into a thunderstorm and _strive_ to get struck, only imagining how good it would make her feel. But the hairs on the back of her neck were rising, telling her in no uncertain terms that she was to avoid _this_ lightning at all costs.

The storm was consuming the land with darkness, and wind began to whistle past, blazing through quickly enough to bring the trees to heel.

"The thing's gone, Ren!" Nora called out over the howling wind, as another thunder-strike cued pouring rain.

"What?!" Ren called back.

"The thing- it's gone!"

Ren turned, and, sure enough, the creature they had been examining a minute or so ago had vanished- likely running away the moment the lightning had begun.

"Forget about it!" Ren ordered. "We need to-"

He was cut off as another creature seemed to rush through his chest, not hindered in the slightest as it tore off into the distance. He turned and saw entire hoards of creatures sprinting past- but it was in the oddest way. It was as though they had been recorded, and the tape was now being fast-forwarded.

The storm continued to increase in intensity- there was little doubt in his mind that this was among the worst storms Remnant had ever experienced, if not _the_ worst.

Trees were falling, lightning of odd colors striking, almost _clashing_ back and forth across the sky. Various creatures continued to rush past, as if in an effort to escape the storm- an effort, Ren had a sinking feeling, that was completely futile.

As they watched, things seemingly continued to speed up- whoever was fast-forwarding the future was ordering it to go faster... and faster... and faster still. The creatures running past changed, disappearing and being replaced with new creatures that proceeded to evolve into entirely new creatures. Even Nora seemed overwhelmed, clenching tighter onto his hand as centuries- perhaps even millennia- whizzed past in the blink of an eye.

And throughout it all, the storm continued raging, relentless in its ferocity, ceaseless in its fury.

At long last, things began to slow- they could actually get a decent look at the creatures running around now- bizarre birds that couldn't fly, lizards that had learned to walk erect, creatures that the hardly recognized at all wheeling overhead in an alien sky.

Once more, the creatures seemed to choose a single direction, rushing past as if trying to escape. The storm, if it were possible, seemed to be growing more intense, as bolts of orange and green lightning arced across the sky, slamming into each other with more power than anything earthly had the right to possess.

The two observers watched, their eyes wide, as two final bolts appeared- larger and seemingly stronger than any that had come before in a storm that seemed to have gone on for at least a million years. The crash that echoed through the forest when they made contact was unlike anything they had ever heard before- or would ever hear again. The sky lit up, turning a bright white even in the dead of night.

The storm seemed to falter slightly, the endless crashes making way for a loud whistling noise as a bright light arced across the sky. It wasn't lightning this time- rather, it seemed more like a shooting star, streaking through the air.

As Ren and Nora watched with increasing trepidation, the shooting star seemed to pierce the moon- before their wondering eyes, the moon shattered, roughly half to one side as the other half scattered to the other. At last, they realized where this streaking comet was heading- directly into the forest they'd taken shelter in.

As it drew closer, they saw bright, piercing orange light streaming off of the missile before it disappeared behind the gigantic trees surrounding them. Fire spilled forth, filling the forest with the screams and screeches of all the creatures that hadn't escaped in time.

And, despite their apparent separation from these events, Nora felt it, too. She felt her skin burning and peeling away, screaming out as her hair turned to ash and her hands melted away before her eyes. She had no means to pay attention to it, but Ren was currently undergoing a very similar experience.

Then came the shockwave.

A crash louder than anything from the storm echoed through the forest- they would later speculate the entire world might have heard it. At the moment, however, they were focused on the fallout, as a gigantic pulse traveled through the trees, wiping them aside as easily as if they were made of paper. It slammed into them, blowing away what was left of their bodies like piles of leaves in the wind.

XXXX

"Nora! Are you okay? Nora?"

Nora's eyes creaked open, and for a moment, she feared that she would awake to find herself in the same red forest from before- but when vision finally saw fit to return, she saw only the lush green of the Emerald Forest, just behind the concerned eyes of Jaune Arc. "Yeah... I'm fine... one heck of a nightmare, though..."

"It wasn't a nightmare."

"Ren?" Nora's ears perked at the sound of his voice- she rolled over to see him struggling to his feet as well- a concerned Blake and Weiss standing over him. "Did you have a nightmare, too?"

"We had the same... nightmare," Ren responded. "The red forest, right?"

"Yeah- and the storm, and the meteor!" Nora nodded. "Crazy coincidence, huh?"

"I don't believe coincidence is a factor here," Ren shook his head.

"What are you _talking_ about?" Weiss asked, eyeing them warily. "We were keeping an ear out for you when you started babbling- we opened up the trapdoor, and you were just writhing around on the ground. We thought you were going to _die_!"

"We p-p-pulled you out as f-fast as we c-c-could," Yang agreed.

Pyrrha, however, sounded rather nervous as she asked, "You saw something, didn't you?"

Ren looked at Nora, who looked uncharacteristically nervous. Turning to the others, he nodded. "We saw something, alright."

He went on to explain the dream they'd shared in far more detail than Nora was comfortable remembering, let alone relating. As he explained, looks of confusion seemed prevalent on Jaune and Yang's faces, compared to Pyrrha's look of dawning comprehension and Blake and Weiss's expressions of rising dread.

As he brought his narrative to a close, Blake was the first to speak. "But... but if that... that _thing_ has been here for that long... how can we fight it?"

"I don't follow," Nora blinked in confusion.

"What you described... yes, that's what Remnant looked like, but that was... that was over sixty million years ago!"

"So?" Nora asked. "What does that have to do with Neo?"

Ren turned to her, his eyes grave as he extended a hand towards her shoulder. "Nora... that falling comet _was_ Neo."

 _XXXX_

Almost ten thousand words. I hope you enjoyed this _goliath_ of a chapter- it's one I've been looking forward to for a while. To let me know, please R&R, constructive criticism, questions, and even flames are all embraced, Gamer4 out.


	35. Weiss Schnee Takes a Break (C)

Gamer4 in. It took longer than it probably should have to sit down and get started on this one- let's get started and hopefully make up for lost time.

Disclaimer: With a touch of my hand, I'll turn your life to gold!

Chapter XXXIV

Weiss Schnee Takes a Break

To everyone else's surprise, Nora reached the end of her story with relatively little diversion. She had risen to her feet to act a great deal of it out, sure, but the energy she placed into doing so seemed to keep her from going off on tangents or into wild inventions or embellishment. Ren had only needed to speak up on one or two occasions to offer only minor corrections.

Eventually, she seemed to reach the end of her narrative, resuming her seat and stretching out her arms, leaving a ringing silence in her wake.

Slowly, all eyes turned towards Ren. Almost hopefully, Weiss asked, "Any corrections you'd like to make, Ren?"

Ren shook his head. "No- she was actually quite spot-on towards the end, there. She might even remember what we saw better than I do- I suppose it left quite the impression on her."

"I believe it!" Jaune nodded, eyes wide. "You went back _how_ many years, now?"

"We didn't really go back, per se," Ren corrected. "It was more like we saw _images_ of the past... sort of like the Gamestation VR, except with smoke instead of a headset."

"Even so... _dinosaurs?_ " Weiss asked, a single eyebrow raised.

"Yes... we saw dinosaurs," Ren agreed. "Not that we recognized what they were- it was a full decade before the earliest fossils were discovered, after all."

"And It's been here since then?" Pyrrha continued to follow the line of thought. "That was _millions_ of years before the earliest humans!"

"W-we always kn-knew It was older th-th-than the t-town," Yang pointed out.

"A few _hundred_ years is one thing!" Weiss objected. "We're talking over seven _million!_ "

"Impossible though it may seem, that _is_ what we saw," Ren stated firmly. "It does raise other questions in my mind about our mutual enemy, however."

"Like, how it looks so human if it predates humanity?" Jaune guessed.

"...In a way," Ren began. "You see, I was uncertain from the start about... about _Neo._ We already know she is capable of taking other forms- who is to say that the Ice Cream Lady we all know is Its true form at all?"

Silence fell again. "Well... we... we all saw It turn into her at some point..." Nora finally gave a halfhearted guess.

"True," Ren nodded. "It certainly seems to _favor_ that form, but that's not to say that Neo is Its _true_ form."

"Well, if Neo isn't Its true form, then what is?" Jaune asked, with a reluctance in his eyes indicating he didn't particularly want to hear the answer.

Fortunately for him, Ren shook his head. "As to that, I cannot say. This is a being beyond the realm of this world's experience- who can say what Its true form is? It may be that we were simply not meant to know."

Yang leaned back, examining the room once more. The blood was growing thicker, and to her mixed dread and anger, the phrase on the walls had spread further- all the walls seemed fully decorated with the question, _WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED?_ _WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SEH DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELALDONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BE FORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BEALLLDONA SEE BEFORE SHE DID? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFLORES SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BALLEDONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BDFORE SHE DEIED? WHJAT DID BLAKE BELLADINNA SIE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WAHT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SEH DEID? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONAA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SH EDIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BEELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SH EDIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEEBEFORES SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNAS EE BEFORE SHE DIED? WAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHT DID BLAKE BELLADONA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHAT DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED? WHTA DID BLAKE BELLADONNA SEE BEFORE SHE DIED?_

She closed her eyes, lowering her head slightly, and unbidden, an answer came to her. "B-B-Blake knew."

"Hm?" Ren asked, turning his attention towards her.

" _Blake_ kn-knew wh-what It r-really l-looked like," Yang repeated.

Ren's eyes widened. "Did you remember something?"

"No," Yang shook her head. "N-not exactly... b-but... sh-she saw s-s-something."

"I guess..." Weiss spoke slowly. "I guess it would make sense... if Blake saw what It really looked like, when none of us did, it might explain why..."

An uncomfortable silence followed. Weiss made to lean back, as if trying to shrink away from her own words, only to let out a yelp of pain when she tried to prop herself up with her right arm.

"Is something wrong?" Jaune asked immediately, concern flaring in his eyes.

"No, no, it's nothing," Weiss waved him aside with her other arm. "Just an old injury..."

"Old injury?" Nora repeated, and immediately, everyone turned towards Weiss, all thinking the same thing. "Did you remember something else?"

Weiss flushed under their scrutinizing gazes. "No- really, I just hurt my arm a few years ago, when... when..." Her eyes widened. "No... no, it _was_ back then!"

Ren drew everyone else's attention with a cough. "I thought something like this might happened," he muttered. "Has anyone else suddenly found any old injuries resurfacing? Scars they don't remember getting? Scars that should have faded suddenly resurfacing?"

Naturally, most attention was drawn back towards Weiss, who ran an unconscious hand over the scar that crossed her left eye. To her relief, however, Pyrrha's voice spoke up across from her, drawing the attention away. "I... I have a few scars on my midriff... if you're okay with seeing them..."

Ren leaned back, motioning for her to continue. Nora and Yang nodded, as did Weiss, albeit more curtly. Jaune turned red, but quietly muttered, "Do what you have to," before leaning back in his spot.

Pyrrha nodded before reaching down and pulling up her shirt, prompting gasps from the others.

Upon her stomach, of course, was the same thin, white C that she'd shown to Junior, Melanie, and Miltia- the one left by Cardin. But this wasn't the scar that her team's eyes were drawn to- rather, they found themselves staring, aghast, at the three ugly, jagged scars that ran horizontally across her belly, overcoming even Cardin's scar, looking as though someone with shaky hands and a crude blade they only had the barest idea of how to handle had attempted to slit her open.

"What... what happened?" Nora asked, eyed wide.

"The C appeared first," Pyrrha explained. "Right when Ren called me, I saw it in my mirror- and it didn't take long for me to remember how I got it. But then... I know how odd this sounds... the other scars weren't there, not until I got back to Vale. I checked into my hotel, and when I looked in the mirror that night, these scars were back... and I still don't remember how I got them."

"That... that's not possible," Weiss spoke slowly. "I mean... the scar over my eye never fully went away... yes, it started flaring when I got the call, but it never _vanished..._ "

"B-but the scars on our h-hands did," Yang put in, raising her own hand to demonstrate. "The sc-scars we g-got when we m-made the p-promise. I d-don't know about y-you, but m-mine only j-just appeared when I g-got Ren's c-call."

It was up to Jaune to break the silence that followed. " _I_ believe her," he practically whispered. Realizing that he'd drawn everyone else's attention, he rose to his feet. "I believe her, because... because as I was flying in, I felt a pain in my back. I went to the bathroom to use the mirror, and I found this."

He lifted his shirt over his head, eventually removing it altogether, causing the others to gasp- his back looked like it had been torn apart. Repeatedly. Scars and stinging welts covered practically every inch of flesh, prompting Yang to say, "Holy _D-Dust,_ Vomit Boy, what d-did It _d-d-do_ to you?"

Jaune flinched, as if he'd just realized exactly what he did. "I... I just meant this one." He felt around on his back, eventually pointing to a very jagged wound just over his right shoulder blade. "That's the one that reappeared. The rest of it... it's not important."

"Not _important?!_ " Nora objected, leaping to her feet again. "You look like you've been whipped 39 times and nailed to a cross nightly for the past month, and you say that's not _important_?!"

"While I don't fully agree with Nora's simile," Weiss threw an odd look at the girl in pink, "I have to agree- that seems hardly something to dismiss. What happened to you?"

Jaune turned back to them, a deep flush on his face. "It's... it's not important, guys- I just got into a fight a few weeks back, they roughed me up a bit, but I got away- it just hasn't fully healed yet, alright?"

Ren's eyes narrowed, but it didn't take his piercing gaze to pick up on Jaune's tells.

Each and every one of them could tell he was lying.

Nevertheless, the boy in green saw fit to change the subject. "Well... we can get back to that later. Until then... do you know how you got the scar that just appeared?"

"I don't," Jaune shook his head as he pulled his shirt back on and returned to his seat. "I have a few ideas... but I just can't remember."

Ren nodded, this time convinced of his honesty. "Very well... then let's start with Weiss."

Weiss looked up, and found Ren's gaze fixed with hers. "Weiss... it may be painful, but you need to remember... how did you hurt your arm?"

Weiss found her left arm stroking her right- any more pressure, and she felt another jolt of pain. She reached back, deep into her memories. Fragments of images and sound seemed to float in front of her, just _barely_ in reach. She had to find a place to start... somewhere to start, then once she started talking, she'd get there.

She began speaking slowly. "I... that morning, I was

XXXX

continuing her search through the Schnee Mansion, single-mindedly determined in her goal. Her words from the day of the fire came back to her- _Yes, I have an idea... kind of._

She hadn't been lying- an idea _had_ crossed her mind on how to fight back against the menace they'd discovered lurking in their town... but even thinking about it now prompted her to shake her head at herself. It seemed so ludicrous- what kind of fairy tale world did she think she was living in?

 _The kind inhabited by an evil, shape-changing monster that feeds on children?_ suggested a voice in the back of her mind.

There was no way around it- her life had definitely taken a turn for the stranger ever since that excursion to the House on Vickery Lane. Things were changing around her faster than she could keep up. And as ridiculous as her idea to fight It might have been... it was hardly any more bizarre than It was Itself. Perhaps an odd problem deserved an odd solution.

And so her search through the mansion continued- she'd begun looking the day they'd gotten started on the clubhouse, and had yet to find what she was looking for. She was now up to two solid weeks of searching- though, given the ground she had to cover- the mansion was truly _massive-_ and the fact that she was only looking in between moments dictated by her father or time spent with her friends, maybe it was less surprising that she hadn't found anything yet.

Today, she was heading up towards the attic, which doubled as the storage for the numerous, myriad pieces of art that Jacques had collected but didn't really care to actually look at unless another rich, influential individual or twenty were in the neighborhood for a party. It was growing to be a greater and greater longshot, but she was determined to find what she was looking for before fully explaining her idea to her friends.

The attic had an old, desolate feel to it- everything was in boxes of wood or cardboard, or covered in drapes. Based on Yang and Nora's descriptions, in fact, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to say the attic of her home closely resembled the interior of the House on Vickery Lane. Light poked in wherever it could through the scant few windows that existed this high up, and continued to filter through clouds of dust on its journey towards the ground. Despite still being in her own house, she felt nervous- she could practically _hear_ an eerie tune being played on a theremin as she tread carefully across the floor. Why she was striving to be so quiet, even she didn't fully understand- her father was entire floors below, and surely even _he_ couldn't take issue with her investigating up here.

Nevertheless, she was very grateful for the dust accumulated on the ground that muffled her footsteps as she began searching through the boxes.

As time passed, she began growing more and more frustrated with her continuous lack of results- she had one single criterion, which she'd thought would be rather easy to fill- at least in her house. Nevertheless, she had yet to find even one thing that met it.

Box after box was thoroughly searched, emptied, refilled, then shoved aside when its contents were declared useless to her cause. She continued her journey through the attic, continually taking pulls on her inhaler as all the dust- what was in the air already in addition to what she unwittingly kicked up- prompted her chest to tighten with asthma. Her heart sank when she took one final pull on the inhaler, only to find it empty. _Okay... a few more boxes, then I get out of here._

The first box was filled with paintings, including one of a crying child, and another of a boy standing next to a life-size doll, both in front of a dark window with hands emerging from the background. The sight sent chills down her spine. An even more disturbing portrait lay underneath- a picture detailing a monster from Atlesian folklore. The dead, goat-like face and cloven hooves, all in a bastardization of a friendly-looking red coat torn through at the top by curving horns could put her in mind of none other than Krampus, the anti-Santa Claus that haunted the dreams of so many from her part of the world, who kidnapped naughty children and dragged them into the underworld.

She shook her head, returning the portrait to the box and shoving it aside. The legend had always disturbed her, and it had been to her chagrin when the Atlesian character had somehow found its way into the mainstream a year or two ago, suddenly being talked about on television shows and appearing in several movies, including a favorite of Yang's entitled simply, yet appropriately, _Krampus._ The film had been relentlessly advertised a couple Decembers ago, and had earned Yang's interest from the earliest trailer, leading to her dragging the rest of Team Loser- excluding Ruby, under the logic that she didn't want to ruin Christmas for her beloved sister- off to see it in theaters. Weiss, raised on legends of the being, had been tense all throughout the early acts of the film, bracing herself for what was to come.

It had been to her enormous relief when they'd been forced to leave the theater early- at one point, Blake had absentmindedly placed her popcorn on the balcony in front of them before reclining in her chair- accidentally sending the popcorn down into the row in front. Peering over the edge, who should they see down there but Team Curdle, popcorn decorating their hair. When they spun around, fury in their eyes, to see who had done it, Nora had decided it was the perfect time to make everything worse, jeering at them and dumping her soda onto their upturned faces before turning and sprinting away, the rest of Team Loser on her heels. Weiss and Blake had been furious with her afterwards, while Yang had been nothing but supportive. Ultimately, it wasn't until the film's DVD release that they finally saw the rest of the film- Weiss dragged along begrudgingly to watch it at Yang's house just before the fourth of July- one year to the day before Team Loser had officially been completed.

Finally pulling her head out of old memories, Weiss turned her attention towards a second box, prying it open only to find a large number of books, ranging from thin to paving slabs made out of paper. The top tome seemed to be written in another language- the title read _Interrogate et Accipies._ Upon closer inspection, most of the books seemed to be in other languages- _Illiad, Quo Vadis,_ and _Le Morte d'Arthur_ standing as some of the more prominent ones. Perhaps that explained why they had been left to gather dust up here.

In the final box she was willing to search today, she found perhaps the strangest contents yet- coffee. In cans and jars, there were beans and countless beans of unground coffee. _What on Earth?_ she wondered as she lifted the contents out. On second thought, she recognized the brand- it was particularly familiar to her, bearing the image of a cane and pair of dark glasses. It was a favorite of hers, though its relative cheapness meant that her father generally refused to buy it, leaving her to ask after it whenever she visited her friends' houses.

...Cue numerous jokes from Yang about how much she loved 'canes.'

Shaking Yang's bad jokes out of her mind, she continued sifting through the jars and cans. This stuff had to be old to be up here- perhaps too old to brew anymore, though she was willing to give it a try if she could manage to do so behind her father's back. Though that begged the question of where it had come from in the first pl-

"Ah!" Weiss let out a yelp. She quickly raised her hand and saw a small cut on her finger, somewhat resembling the one she'd helped Jaune heal two weeks before- the one he'd received from attempting to reach through the picture. With her knowledge of medicine accumulated from years of dreading any disease or injury, she'd immediately provided some antiseptic and a band-aid, wiping his finger clean of blood before applying the small bandage.

That cut had been deeper, though- hers had barely broken skin before she'd withdrawn her hand. Moving more carefully this time, she began moving aside the jars, attempting to see what had cut her- had one of the jars broken, leaving glass across the bottom as a trap for any investigators in the future?

Setting aside one last can, she saw it- laying there at the bottom of the box. Exactly what she was looking for, glistening even in the minuscule amount of light that could touch it. Moving cautiously, she picked it up lightly and lowered it into her purse, brought along for this exact purpose. This was truly the perfect find.

She then moved for her inhaler, only to remember that it was empty. Oh, well- she was planning on meeting up with the others at the clubhouse today anyways- she could stop by Sieben Pharmaceuticals on the way.

It was with no small amount of haste that she finally left the attic behind, descending to the more brightly lit chambers below.

XXXX

She moved down the streets of Vale at a quick jog- she had never learned to ride a bike the way her friends had- her father would have had a fit. Nevertheless, from the excursions she took with her friends, she knew the fastest, safest ways to just about everywhere in town, even on foot. Fortunately, Sieben Pharmaceuticals wasn't all that far from the Emerald Forest at any rate- it was very easy to make a brief detour from the path towards the woods and head a block or so into town, from which point finding the shop itself was only too easy.

"Oh, Ms. Schnee! Here for a refill, I suppose?"

Weiss smiled at Klein Sieben's jovial greeting. "That would be the purpose for my visit, yes," she nodded, approaching the counter and placing her inhaler upon it.

Klein nodded, picking up the device and examining it closely. "Yes... yes... can't have the esteemed heiress to the Schnee Dust Company having impromptu asthma attacks, can we..."

Weiss blinked. "Is there... is there something wrong, Mr. Sieben?"

"Please, my dear girl, it's just Klein," Klein waved her concern aside. "As to whether there's anything wrong..."

He stroked his moustache a couple times, examining the inhaler intently. At long last, he asked a very strange question- "You're of age, correct?"

"Come again?"

"Of age- that is to say, an adult. Legally, at least- I know plenty of people in middle age who have yet to become adults."

Weiss tilted her head slightly. "Well... I'm seventeen- a few months away-"

"That's enough," Klein raised his hand. "That's close enough. Besides, much as I know thirty-year-olds who are not yet adults, I sense in you an adult who has yet to reach the right age."

Weiss blinked- where was he going with this?

Klein beckoned her behind the table. "Come into the back room with me," he whispered, blinking as his eyes turned purple. "It's about time we had a talk."

Weiss took a nervous step backward. Not that she didn't trust Klein... but there was also substantial reason to be afraid and suspicious of everything in Vale these days...

Klein turned back to her, his eyes turning red, his voice gruff. "Well, c'mon, lass, we don't got all day!" Another blink, and his eyes had turned a light shade of blue. "Please, miss? I don't bite!"

Weiss smiled slightly at his antics. This was the Klein Sieben she knew, alright. Moving slowly, she crossed behind the counter and into the back room whose door he was holding open.

"Feel free to take a seat, milady!" Klein declared cheerfully, bouncing in front of her and taking a large spinning chair, his eyes now a bright shade of yellow. Weiss chuckled slightly before assuming a decently comfy chair across from him.

"What's this all about?" she asked.

Klein finally focused on her. He reached towards the desk next to him and produced a jar of sweets. "Candy?" he offered, holding it in front of her.

"No, thank you," Weiss declined politely. "What is it you wanted to talk about? If you want to offer a job-"

"No, no, nothing like that," he shook his head. He placed the jar back on the desk and folded his hands, resting his chin upon them. "Ms. Schnee... are you familiar with the concept of a placebo?"

Without knowing why, Weiss felt her heart sink. "I... I believe I've heard the term before. It's... it's fake medicine, isn't it?"

"Not exactly," Klein shook his head- his eyes had returned to their standard light brown. "It's... in a way, I suppose, it's medicine for the _mind._ "

"Medicine for mental disorders?"

Klein sighed. "No, no, that's not it, either. It's... it's when a patient is provided something they are told will heal them, and it does- despite that thing not having any natural properties that should do so."

Weiss blinked. "I'm... I'm afraid I don't follow."

Klein cleared his throat. "It's something that's existed for many years, but the first formal experiment involving placebos was performed in Mistral fifty or so years ago- a group of patients were provided with medicine they were told would cure their illness- and the majority of them showed signs of betterment as they took the medicine they were given. Ninety percent, in fact. The curious thing, however, is that of those patients, only half were given any medicine at all- the others were given tablets of sugar, and simply told that it would help. Nevertheless, they showed the same improvement as if they'd been given the genuine medicine anyways. Do you understand now?"

"I... I... kind of." Weiss found herself nearing the point of stuttering along the same lines as Yang. She didn't know why- what about this concept was sparking such fear in her?

Klein turned his gaze towards a nearby window, behind which was a few bushes before the sidewalk. "The mind is truly a wondrous thing... by just believing that one _should_ be better, one can _become_ better..."

He turned back towards Weiss. "Like I said, Mistral was the first to officially confirm the phenomenon, but the medical community has been well aware of it for centuries. For example, during the War for Remnant, supplies were dangerously low, as just about everything was sent to the troops fighting on the front lines. It was relatively common practice for patients suffering illness or minor injuries to give them small candies or water mixed with food dye or other harmless ingredients, telling them that it would help them... which, nine times out of ten, it did. During that era, I believe that there are more records of civilians being cured via placebos then there are of them being cured with actual medicine.

"What I'm trying to say, I suppose, is that placebos aren't inherently evil- indeed, history shows that they can be used for great good, when true medicine is not so readily available. They aren't a catch-all solution, to be sure, but in a pinch, it is a very viable tactic to provide brief comfort, if not to tackle the problem itself."

Klein sighed, and his eyes turned red. "The problem, lass, is that it can work the other way 'round, too."

Weiss's heart rate began to pick up. "The... other... way... around?"

"Just as someone told they ought to be better can become better... one might be driven to sickness because they were told they were sick.

"Ms. Schnee... would you like to see me make your medicine?"

Weiss's heart was hammering against her chest. "Klein... I don't-"

Klein seemingly ignored her, carrying her inhaler over to a nearby sink, where he dipped it under the running water, filling it roughly halfway. He then turned to a nearby cabinet, from which he produced a bottle of Diet People Like Grapes soda and a small bottle of Powerade zero, pouring small increments of each in. Weiss watched, breath hitching, as the drinks fell into her inhaler, diluting in the water, tinting it a little bluer each time. Eventually, he returned the drinks to the cupboard, returned to the sink, and added a little more water before sealing the inhaler up. That done, he shook it hard before returning it to Weiss, watching him in horror. She looked at it, and saw a mixture exactly resembling what she'd been using to cure her asthma attacks ever since she'd been diagnosed.

"I'm 'fraid that's all there is to it, lass," Klein elaborated, resuming his seat. He blinked, and his eyes were a light blue. He sounded nervous as he continued. "People Like Grapes... Powerade... mix those two things together, and you don't really have much of the original taste of either left. Dilute them in water, too, and you just might convince someone that it's actual medicine- even for a disease that was never there in the first place."

"What... what are you trying to say?" Weiss asked, clutching her inhaler tightly.

Klein spoke slowly, his eyes retaining their light blue hue. "Ms. Schnee... no... Weiss... you don't have asthma. You never did."

Weiss felt something shatter. "But... but... my father... Doctor Marigold...!"

Klein sighed heavily, his eyes returning to red. "Yes, I'm well aware of the good Doctor Marigold. He's the one who writes your prescriptions, ain't he? Problem is, lass, he works at a hospital owned by the Schnee Dust Company- means if your father asks for a favor, he ain't in any position to turn 'im away!"

Weiss's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish. "My... my _father_?"

Back to light blue. "I'm so sorry, my dear," he almost whispered, tapping his index fingers together, as if in shame. "I don't pretend to know his reasons, but whatever they may be, your father has determined that you _are_ sick- and he'll do anything to ensure that you get better. He gets Dr. Marigold to write the prescriptions, then gets me to provide the placebo- an imaginary cure for an imaginary disease."

Weiss pulled back- she could feel tears filling her eyes. "You're... you're lying!"

Klein cringed slightly. "I can assure you I'm not," he said, somewhat weakly. "I've gone along with it up until now out of fear for what your father would say if I did not, but it's time you knew the truth! No matter how painful..."

Weiss didn't wait any longer- she got to her feet, turned and left. Klein watched her go, an uncertain lip between his teeth. "I... I suppose that was the right thing to do... wasn't it...?"

XXXX

Weiss finally broke and allowed the tears to fall as she left the shop. In her haste to get away, she paid no attention to where she was going- her mind was reeling.

It _had_ to be false, it just _had_ to be! She _did_ have asthma, her father and doctor had both told her so! She knew her father wasn't always the most upright of people- his numerous issues with faunus came immediately to mind- but this... this would represent a lie, a betrayal that cut so much deeper than anything before.

Yes... Klein had to be lying. Why, she didn't know- she could see no way that he benefitted from telling such a tall tale, and he was usually a very honest person, beloved by children and parents alike for the way he handled most cases... but in this one instance, he _had_ to be deceiving her. There was no other possibility. Perhaps-

"Well, well, well- lookie what we got here."

Her heart, if it were possible, sank even lower when she heard the sounds of an approaching Team CRDL. She turned to see Cardin, flanked by Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark, all their arms crossed. Dove had a dark smirk on his face, while Sky- to her surprise- seemed somewhat nervous. Cardin himself, meanwhile, held nothing but hostility within his gaze. "If it ain't the Ice Queen," he growled, cracking his knuckles. "Where are the rest of your friends, Ice Queen?"

Weiss glanced around, searching for the fourth member of the group. "I... I could ask the same thing," she struggled to say- she didn't want to show weakness by giving away her inner turmoil.

Cardin sneered. "That bastard's on suspension after ditching us back at the river. And speaking of the river..."

Weiss turned and made to run, only for Sky to leap forward and slam her into the ground. She gasped, immediately beginning her struggle to escape- fruitless.

"Like I said," Cardin continued, his voice growing more menacing as he approached, taking care to tread on her extended arm, "speaking of the river, I think it's about time I paid you back for every rock you and your freak friends threw. I'd like to pay you all back... but I'll just take you to start with."

"Cardin... stop...!"

"What makes you think I'll stop just because you asked?" Cardin's sneer increased as he drove his heels into her arm, causing her to bite her lip to keep any screams of pain inside. "I ain't one of your servants- I'm not gonna back off just because the high queen told me to!"

"Hey!" came a new voice, bearing hope for Weiss. The three bullies turned to see the elderly owner of _From Dust 'Til Dawn_ standing nearby, his arms crossed as he called out in his gruff voice. "Leave the girl alone, kiddos! I don't hold with bullyin', 'specially right on my front lawn! You leave her alone and get on outta-"

Cardin let out a yell of rage, charging at the old man in an almost animal-like fashion, slamming him into the glass of his own store. Weiss's eyes widened- Cardin was attacking an adult now- he was truly passing the boundaries of sanity.

"The _fuck_ makes you think I care about your opinion, old man?!" Cardin asked, grabbing him by his collar and slamming him into the glass again. "If you care about your business, you'd better mind it- you go back inside and forget you ever saw this, or I'm coming for _you_ next!"

Even Sky and Dove seemed taken aback by this development- enough to let up on her _just_ enough for her to slip away.

Cardin spun around, and upon noticing what was happening, shouted, "GRAB HER! YOU MORONS, _GRAB HER!_ "

The old man took the opportunity to slink back into his store and out of sight of the deranged red-haired boy.

Sky dove forward, and _barely_ managed to grab hold of one of Weiss's arms, causing her to come to a sudden stop, nearly falling over. Cardin approached and seized her other arm, slamming it against a wall. "Thought you could get away that easy, Ice Bitch?" he asked. "Not this time! NOT THIS TIME!"

Weiss continued to struggle, which in turn prompted Cardin to clench her arm more tightly. Her next attempt to run resulted in him jerking her arm sharply to pin it behind her back.

*CRACK!*

Weiss heard her arm break long before she felt any pain. A deafening crack split the air, and things seemed to slip into slow motion. She turned to see the eyes of her tormentors- Sky's were suddenly filling with an acute fear, as Dove's jaw dropped. In Cardin's eyes... nothing. Just the same rage that seemed to fill his eyes and prompt this attack in the first place.

Next, her eyes fell, almost disbelievingly, towards her arm, observing the odd angle at which it now protruded from her body. It looked... wrong, as if added there by someone trying to manipulate a photo without any clear idea of how to do so.

The first wave of pain hit her- worse than any she had felt in her life. Her blood was replaced with fire, her bones with ice. A large knife was sinking itself repeatedly into her arm, right where she imagined the break had occurred, and each time, it cut deeper, and deeper, and _deeper-_ well past the point of possibility. A scream forced its way past her lips- she normally wouldn't hold with such things, but she found herself incapable of restraining it.

Sky was saying something, and Cardin turned back to glower at him, giving Weiss just the opportunity she needed. She pulled sharply, _just_ managing to jerk her broken arm out of Cardin's grip, before dashing off again.

 _It won't be enough,_ the back of her mind whispered. _He's going to catch you..._

Weiss found herself pointing at the ground with her good hand, and to her surprise, a glyph appeared- a unique dark green glyph with designs around the edge resembling a clock. To her surprise as much as Team CRDL's, she found herself propelled much more quickly down the street. She didn't have any way of determining quite _how_ fast she was moving, but she could tell it was _far_ faster than was usual for her. She'd never used her glyphs in this way before- she could only imagine how she'd managed to pull it off.

However, between this and her broken arm, her energy was fading, fast. She spotted an alley approaching- she quickly summoned another couple glyphs, allowing herself to take the turn sharply disappear quickly down the narrow path.

As soon as she was certain she was out of sight, she collapsed onto the ground. _What a nice place for an heiress,_ she couldn't help thinking with a wry smile. _Collapsed at the end of a dark alley, right behind a dumpster._

Behind her, she could hear Team CRDL chasing after her, but it didn't sound like they'd be searching down this alley. She bit her lip as a second wave of pain overcame her- but she couldn't cry out this time- she couldn't give away her position.

As their voices faded into the distance, she finally reached into her purse with her good hand, fumbling around before finally producing her scroll- like her father's, far superior to the devices on the market for most people. Somewhat clumsily, she dialed the defacto emergency number in Vale- 686. She pressed the phone to her ear.

"686, what's your emergency?"

Forcing words through heavy breathing caused by the pain, she grunted, "Weiss Schnee... broken arm... downtown Vale... From Dust 'Til Dawn..."

The third wave of pain rolled over her, more painful than either before it. She failed to hang up as she collapsed to the ground, the pain finally being washed away by the mercy of unconsciousness.

XXXX

In her unconsciousness, Weiss had a dream. A very clear, very strange dream.

It was an unusual brand of strange, if such a thing makes any sense. It wasn't the type of strange where one wakes up and immediately realizes that it could only have been a dream, but instead strange in its realism.

In her dream, she was in the Vale hospital, on the twenty-second floor. Her head had been laid gently on several pillows, and she had been provided with the best care money could buy. Her arm had already been wrapped up in a cast, laying despondently at her side. To Weiss's surprise, she found that she was standing beside her own unconscious body, watching her own chest slowly rise and fall.

A commotion was going on outside- a shouting match might be more appropriate. Curious, Weiss approached the door, passing through it as easily as if it weren't there at all.

On the outside, she saw her father in a heated argument with a doctor- not one she recognized. "She needs her rest!" he was arguing. "I appreciate your concern, but if you go in there and wake her up, it could be highly damaging-"

"Highly damaging?!" Jacques Schnee repeated, fire in his eyes. "That is my _daughter,_ and I've just learned she broke her _arm!_ Don't you tell me what she needs or doesn't need right now- I don't believe you're in any position to argue against _me."_

"I'm sorry, Mr. Schnee, but as I am the medical professional here-"

"And _I'm_ sorry, Mr. Vance, but I don't believe you fully understand the situation here," Jacques cut him off. "You let me in right now, or I get everybody in this building _fired_ \- starting with you!"

The doctor faltered a moment before caving, stepping aside and allowing him entrance. Jacques wasted no time in bursting through the door and marching directly to where his daughter lay unconscious. "Oh, my girl," he whispered. "What have they done to you...?"

After a moment, he rose to his feet and approached the window, where he spent a moment or two gazing out before suddenly narrowing his eyes. "I think not," he growled, before turning and storming back into the hallway.

Weiss wondered what had earned his ire- she didn't need to wait long to find out, as the dream shifted, taking her outside.

Racing across the large lawn in front of the hospital was the rest of Team Loser, riding double on three bikes. Blake wrapped her arms around Yang as she led on Bumblebee, while Nora did the same on the back of Ren's bike. Right next to them, Jaune was peddling on a bike that Weiss guessed- based on the vivid red paint- was likely Pyrrha's- who was right behind him, as well. Jaune and Ren seemed to be working their bikes extra-hard to keep up with the beast that was Bumblebee, and just barely managing that.

At long last, they pulled up in front of the hospital building, where they disembarked, lowering their kickstands before sprinting into the building, where they were met in the lobby by a furious-looking Jacques Schnee. "And just what do you think _you're_ doing?" he asked menacingly.

Yang glowered right back. "Out of the w-way, old man, we have a f-f-friend to s-s-"

"You will leave my daughter alone!" Jacques fired back. "All of you monsters- _you_ did this to her!"

"You really think we'd break Weiss-Cream's leg?" Nora asked indignantly. "I didn't even go through with the itching powder idea-"

"Itching powder?!" Jacques asked, his eyes bugging out. " _Itching powder?!"_

"I believe that's a 'beep beep, Nora,'" Ren said quietly, before turning his gaze towards the man in white. "What I believe they mean to say, sir, is that we are very concerned about Weiss's well-being as well- we would like to make sure that she is okay."

"Don't worry about that," Jacques fired back. "As soon as she gets back, I'm implementing a new rule- one I should have put into place a long time ago. She is no longer part of your little... _pack._ She is not to see you anymore!"

"Doesn't that seem a little harsh, sir?" Blake asked, almost choking at having to address one of her least favorite people in Vale as such- but it seemed necessary at the moment.

"That is up to _me_ to decide, Ms. Belladonna!" Jacques turned on her. "Not..." he froze, and when he spoke again, there was more fury in his eyes than ever. "Not someone of _your_ ilk."

Blake froze as well, slowly reaching up and feeling her exposed cat ears- in her haste to get to the hospital with the others, she had forgotten to refasten her bow.

"What do you _mean,_ someone of _her_ ilk?" Jaune asked indignantly.

"You may think what you will," Jacques waved him aside. "The point still stands- you will stay _away_ from my daughter!"

"Please, sir!" Pyrrha spoke up, growing desperate. "We honestly _do_ care for her as much as you- it wasn't us who-"

"Enough!" Jacques cut her off. "Either leave this building of your own accord, or I will _have_ you removed!"

He engaged in one last intense stare-down with Yang before the latter turned around, beckoning the others with her hand. With varying degrees of reluctance, they all turned and began making their way out the door.

Weiss watched the situation unfold with an expression of sadness and horror on her face. She watched as her father stared after them, ensuring that they had truly left before turning and returning to the elevator.

XXXX

Jacques Schnee sighed as the elevator carried him back up through the building towards his daughter. The next step was to break the news to her- which shouldn't be a problem. She tended towards obedience, even when she disagreed with his orders- she often knew better than to outright disobey.

The elevator beeped its way into place on the twenty-second floor, allowing him to disembark and head down the hall to his daughter's room. His lip twitched upwards almost unnoticeably when he saw that Weiss had awoken- she was sitting up in her bed and gazing at the window. "Ah, you're awake," he greeted. "Good. We need to talk."

Weiss didn't turn to deliver her response. "You sent them away."

Jacques paused in his approach, uncertain what put him off more- the words she'd said, or the cold disappointment that filled her voice when she said them. "Pardon?" he asked, wondering if he might have misheard.

"You sent my friends away," Weiss repeated, turning towards him at last. "Why?"

The first question that filled Jacques's mind was how she knew- she'd been unconscious, and the argument in the lobby had occurred over twenty floors beneath her.

 _The window,_ spoke the logical side of his brain. _She was looking out the window, she saw them come and leave. It's not too big a leap of logic after that- she's very astute, after all. You raised her that way._

He reached up and straightened his tie. "Yes, I sent them away, my dear. How could I not, seeing what they've done to you?"

"They haven't done _anything_ to me, father," Weiss objected. "It was Cardin Winchester that did this to me- him and his group of imbeciles. Them, and nobody else."

"Nevertheless," Jacques countered after a short pause, "the blame still lies at their feet. Of course Mr. Winchester deserves no mercy, but would he still be after you if it weren't for your involvement with those... unsavory folk?"

Weiss's eyes hardened somewhat. "I fail to see what is so 'unsavory' about them, father. Agitating, yes. Annoying, yes. Rambunctious, absolutely- but not unsavory."

"We have discussed this before," Jacques said firmly. "Miss Xiao Long and Miss Valkyrie are entirely out of control. Miss Nikos seems to lack self-control herself, given her size- nobody who has disciplined themselves could have gained such weight. Misters Arc and Ren appear to be far below your station- imagine what they would do if they understood just who you were- imagine what they would do to earn the privilege of your name and the fortune that came with it! And Miss Belladonna..."

Weiss's gaze turned cold. "What _about_ Blake? As I recall, she was always your favorite of the bunch."

"You know full well my problem with her," Jacques countered. "You must, after all the time you've spent with her."

"Say it anyways."

Jacques was taken aback- never before had Weiss deigned to deliver an order to _him_ like that- especially not in such a demanding tone. It seemed as if something had changed within her, though he couldn't put his finger on it- somehow, in some way, she had grown more authoritative than he'd imagined. Nevertheless, for the moment, he obliged. "You _must_ know of her heritage- that she is a faunus! The faunus have named the Schnee family their mortal enemies! Imagine what she would do if she got you alone... she would likely deliver you to the front door of the White Fang in a heartbeat!"

"Blake hates the White Fang almost as much as I do!" Weiss fired back. "She hates the way they fight for their goals, even if she agrees with the goals themselves! She's had plenty of opportunities before- why hasn't she taken them, if she's so interested in doing that?

"Yes, Yang and Nora are out of control- but they love me like their own sister! They'd never wish harm on me! If they'd been there when Cardin cornered me, things would have ended _very_ differently. Pyrrha is doing everything she can to fight her weight problem- I'm certain she'll beat it one day. And Jaune and Ren would _never_ use me like that- they've already proven themselves to me several times over. They'd all do everything they could to protect me... and I them."

Jacques saw it- he saw what had changed. Under normal circumstances, he'd be willing to brush such brash declarations aside as childish hyperbole... but in that moment, he saw that, despite her age, Weiss was no child. Something within her had grown- there was something more to her. The way she talked about her friends was less like a child and more like a war veteran talking about the comrades she'd met on the battlefield. In some bizarre way, it was as though he wasn't just talking to his daughter, now, but was arguing with all her friends as well- as though they were all in the same room- in the same _body-_ and speaking with one voice.

"So why?" Weiss persisted. "Why would you send them away?"

So overwhelmed was Jacques with this revelation that he was rendered speechless.

Weiss lowered her eyes. "I... I heard something unusual today."

Jumping on the opportunity for a change of topic, Jacques nodded. "What might that be?"

Weiss looked back up at Jacques. "One of the employees at Seiben Pharmaceuticals told me something... something about my medicine..."

Unbidden, Jacques felt his heart rate begin to increase. "And what might that be?"

"They said... they said it's nothing. Just water... water mixed with some diet soda and light energy drink. They said I don't really have asthma... it's all just one big placebo. Would you know anything about that?"

Jacques felt himself beginning to sweat. He attempted to cover his sudden fear with anger. "And who told you that?"

Weiss turned away. "I can't remember- one of the employees. I don't remember their name." She then turned back. "But... if that were true... you'd have told me, right? That's not something you would do to me, is it, father?"

"Of course not!" Jacques answered immediately. "Of course not... they must have been lying to you!"

Weiss nodded. "That's what I thought. It's just that... they even showed me how it was done. They mixed it all together and gave it to me... it looked and tasted just the same as my medicine."

Jacques raked through his mind, searching for excuses. "Well... this world is full of coincidences, my dear. I'm sure you could mix something together using various ingredients that tasted like plenty of other medicines."

"Right, of course," Weiss nodded, raising her gaze towards her father. She wasn't just _looking_ at him, though- she was _scrutinizing_ him. "I just wanted to hear you say it. To hear you say that it's true... that I really am sick, and really _need_ this medicine."

Jacques found himself glancing to the left. "My dearest daughter, you are indeed afflicted with asthma, and genuinely _do_ need your medicine."

Weiss stared at him for a moment or two longer, then nodded, leaning back in her bed. "Of course. As I suspected all along."

From there, she fell into silence- a silence Jacques was keen on upholding until he heard her breathing extend into the deep breaths of sleep.

XXXX

The second time around, Team Loser made sure that Jacques was not in the building before entering. They immediately approached the lobby. "W-W-We're here to s-see Weiss Schnee," Yang announced to the doctor- an elderly black man with a well-kept beard and moustache.

"Weiss Schnee... yes, I know the girl," he nodded. "But you are aware, I believe, that her father has forbidden access to her room- especially to you."

"Please, sir," Ren spoke up behind them. "We're gravely concerned for her- we merely wish to ensure that she is okay."

The doctor glanced around before turning back to them. "Alright," he whispered. "I'll let you up- just be quick about it."

Team Loser nodded gratefully, and the doctor led them to the elevator.

Up they went, all the way up to the twenty-second floor, where he led them to the fourth room on the left, quietly opening it before standing by.

Weiss immediately sat up when she heard the door open, and brightened perceptibly when she saw who it was. "You came back!"

Yang smiled as she crossed the short distance between them. "Y-y-you didn't think old m-man stick-in-the-muh-mud was going to k-keep us away, d-d-did you?"

"Through thick and thin, through rain, sleet, or snow, Team Loser will always stick together!" Nora crowed.

"Beep beep, Nora," Ren whispered, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "People are trying to sleep."

"Oh!" Nora's eyes widened with the realization. "Sorry, Ren!"

"What happened?" Blake asked, taking a seat near the window.

Weiss proceeded to tell them the story, leaving out her conversation with Klein, only elaborating on her visit to his store, her refill, and her subsequent run-in with Cardin.

"That bastard's really gone too far this time," Jaune muttered, a dark anger in his usually-calm eyes.

"Agreed," Pyrrha nodded. "How can he get away with this?"

"He was never this bad before," Blake spoke up. "I mean, he was always a total asshat, of course, but the things he's been doing- carving letters into Pyrrha's stomach, breaking Weiss's arm... this is unusual, even for him."

"Do you think... do you think it has something to do with It?" Nora asked.

A chill ran through the group, as it always seemed to whenever the subject of their town's tormentor came up. "I... I wouldn't rule out the possibility," Ren finally answered.

Weiss's eyes widened. "Oh! Speaking of It- before I left home, I found something in the attic- something I think will help us fight!"

"Really?" Yang asked, perking up. "Why d-d-didn't you s-say so? Where is it n-n-now?"

"My purse- in the closet!" Weiss answered quickly.

Ren, who was nearest, turned to the closet and opened it up, producing the large bag usually to be found slung around Weiss's waist. He opened it up and began digging through it. "What am I looking for?"

"You'll know it when you find it," Weiss said simply.

Ren shrugged, and continued his search. Finally, he gasped. His eyes widened in surprise as his fingers wrapped around Weiss's find, pulling out to reveal a knife. A finely-crafted knife of pure silver, with a near foot-long blade and an intricate handle.

"A knife?" Jaune asked, his eyebrows raising.

"A _silver_ knife," Weiss corrected, turning slightly red as she found herself forced into explaining her reasoning. "I was thinking... we still don't really know what the Fire Walk entails, but we know that we're dealing with something evil, and in most myths and legends, what do people use to fight evil? Silver. I've been looking for something silver in my home ever since. It was surprisingly difficult to find..." She trailed off at the incredulous looks on her friends faces. "I know, I know, it sounds-"

"AMAZING!" Nora interrupted, leaping to her feet with a wide grin on her face. "Of _course_ we should be using silver- why didn't _I_ think of that? You really are a genius, Weissy!" She leaned forward, seemingly making for a hug, only to pull back when she remembered the state her friend was in.

"It's certainly not a bad idea," Ren mused. "A little more concrete than the Fire Walk Yang was mentioning."

"D-d-definitely worth t-trying," Yang nodded.

Pyrrha and Jaune didn't say anything- they simply nodded, prompting everyone to ultimately turn towards Blake.

Blake bit her lip under the others' scrutiny. "Well... it definitely _seems_ silly, but... I _did_ have a theory..."

"Well, k-kitty cat, if you've g-g-got something to s-say, spuh-spit it out!"

Blake spoke slowly. "It... It seems to change based on our minds- our fears. It goes through them to determine what we're afraid of, then takes that form. I was thinking... maybe we could use that against It, somehow. Maybe... maybe if we all focused on one form, we could force It _into_ that form. And if that form had a weakness to silver, then maybe... just _maybe..._ "

Nora gasped, then pulled Blake into a hug, seemingly giving her all the combined energy of her own hug and the hug she didn't get to give to Weiss. "YOU'RE A GENIUS, TOO!" she cried happily. "Man, that Ice Cream Lady doesn't stand a chance with all of us on the case!"

"Beep beep, Nora," Ren repeated, smiling. "People are _still_ trying to sleep." He waited a moment before adding, "Also, I think you're strangling Blake."

Nora looked down to see Blake turning blue, and quickly released her. "Oops! Sorry."

"Well, it sounds like we have a plan," Pyrrha smiled.

"Y-yup!" Yang nodded. "When W-W-Weiss gets b-better, w-we'll start p-p-practicing with this kn-kn-knife- the buh-best one at using it g-g-gets to t-take it against Neo. W-we t-try B-B-Blake's theory- f-f-force It into a f-f-form weak to s-s-silver, st-stab It, and l-leave it d-dead. All in f-f-favor?"

"AYE!" everyone seemed to cheer. Weiss smiled- it seemed her work hadn't been for nothing- they finally had a plan.

"Well, enough of all that!" Nora shook her head, producing a large sharpie felt pen. "Who wants to sign Weissy's cast?"

Smiles ran around the group, and they began lining up to place their names on the white plaster. Nora stepped back to allow Yang to go first, writing her name down in an untidy scrawl. Nora followed, her letters large and looping- she seemed to be participating in her own private game to cover as much of the cast as possible. Blake followed, her handwriting so perfect it seemed as though she had used a typewriter. Jaune wrote his in cursive, but it was practically illegible- as he explained it, some people gave their John Hancock, while he gave his Dying Caterpillar. Pyrrha laughed, and followed up with handwriting that was remarkably neat, just not quite as neat as Blake's. At long last, Ren happily put down his name using beautiful calligraphy that put the others in mind of Animus characters, despite being in English.

Afterwards, they continued to talk and laugh the evening away, but for a brief moment afterwards, they all experienced a moment of... melancholy, perhaps? Or perhaps that wasn't the right word... all they knew for certain was that it didn't seem like they'd just signed a cast. It seemed more like they'd all been signing a contract, totally absolute, binding them to remain in this group until the very end.

A voice seemed to speak in the back of all their minds- a voice that they were all becoming very familiar with. _We_ are _in this until the end. We're all in this until either It's dead..._

 _Or we are._

 _XXXX_

Please R&R, constructive criticism and questions embraced, Gamer4 out.


	36. Jaune Arc Pays His Respects (C)

Gamer4 in. A brief announcement- if there's anyone going back over previous chapters, you may have noticed an alteration or two, primarily in chapter 29- Three Guests Arrive in Vale. So, to avoid confusion, I want to elaborate that when _I_ looked back on that chapter, I felt like a certain character deserved a somewhat better send-off than what I initially gave them. I rewrote their death scene to something I felt was more... satisfying? Poetic? Those don't really sound right, but I can't think of the proper word, either. The point is, I feel the new scene is better than what I wrote originally, so if you're interested, go ahead and check it out. If not, feel free to dive right into this chapter. And, of course, if you started reading this story after that update, it won't matter to you anyways, so... yeah, feel free to dive in. Let's get started!

Disclaimer: Let's have everything- there's nothing we can't do! Every heart is beaming as the sky turns blue!

Chapter XXXV

Jaune Arc Pays His Respects

Weiss punctuated the end of her story with another swig of wine- she had been talking for so long that her throat was beginning to grow sore. Pyrrha's hands were over her mouth, and Nora was cracking her knuckles. The two blonds of the group, meanwhile, settled for expressing their emotions through intense looks of anger, while Ren simply closed his eyes, perhaps in reflection- it was difficult to tell for certain.

"That bastard," Jaune growled. "How could he _do_ that?"

Pyrrha slowly lowered her hands. "We all knew he'd been going over the deep end that year already... perhaps, after the rock fight, we should have expected something like that."

Nora turned her gaze towards Ren. "Sorry to cut ahead in the story, Renny, but give me this- did Cardin get his? Tell me he got his!"

Ren slowly nodded. "At the end of that summer," he spoke slowly, "Cardin took the blame for all of the murders. He was taken to Graham's Memorial Mental Institution, where he resides to this day. Beyond that, there is little I can tell you."

Jaune's anger flagged. "Wait... _he_ took the blame? For... for all the murders?"

"All of them," Ren nodded. "Each and every crime committed, starting with Ruby's disappearance, all the way up to the murder of his friends and father... he took the blame for it all."

"G-good riddance," Yang spat.

Weiss, however, bit her lower lip. "I'm... I'm not so sure."

"How can you say that?!" Nora asked, turning on her. "He broke your arm!"

"And I'd have liked to see him punished for it!" Weiss nodded. "For all the terrible things he did, I'd love to see him brought to justice- but you say he was facing punishment for things he didn't do- for things he _can't_ have done- for murder!"

"I attended the trial," Ren continued. "His hair had turned white- he didn't speak a word in his own defense. He just sat there and let the prosecution tear into him. No lawyer was appointed- the trial was over before it started."

"He... he didn't even _try?_ " Pyrrha asked. "I mean... sure, it probably wouldn't have helped much in the long run... but to not even _try?_ "

Ren looked solemnly down at the table. "I believe something happened to him right before the end... something that caused him to cease caring, something to... shut him down, so to speak. Not only did he not speak in his own defense, as far as I could tell, he was practically comatose. There's a reason he was sent to an asylum rather than a prison, after all. Maybe, eventually, he'll be able to speak the truth... not that anyone will believe it."

A gloomy silence fell, indescribable emotions swirling around the team- they had, of course, abhorred Cardin and everything he stood for, but to hear of his fate over the past twenty-seven years was enough to bring even Yang pause.

Finally, Ren spoke. "But enough of that... Jaune, I believe it's time for you to tell your story."

"Me?" Jaune's voice was almost a squeak. "Why me? Pyrrha's got a story to tell, too..."

"If I'm correct, yours happened first," Ren answered. "But first... do you mind showing us your back again?"

"Why?" Jaune asked nervously. "Why would you need to look at-"

"Because you've clearly been severely injured," Ren rationalized. "If I'm not mistaken, we have one of the finest doctors in Remnant in our midst-" he nodded briefly at Weiss, who nodded right back- "and I think, if we intend to plunge back into enemy territory in the next day or two, it would be best to be at our physical peaks."

Jaune spluttered for a moment, seemingly searching for a way out of this. Weiss, meanwhile, rose to her feet and beckoned him over. "Just a quick examination," she promised. "Don't worry... I'll be gentle."

"You'd b-b-better be, Ice Q-Queen," Yang smirked.

"Shut it, Long, you're not helping," Weiss fired a glare at Yang before turning back to Jaune, pleading with her eyes. "Please... just let me take a look and see what's wrong?"

Jaune stared back at her for a moment before sighing. He rose to his feet, a very resigned expression on his face as he once again removed his shirt, causing the others to wince when they once again saw the scars and welts etched into his back.

Weiss approached and began to feel it, examining it closely, running her hands over scar tissue, pits and bumps caused by... whatever had happened. Jaune tensed, nervously awaiting what he knew was coming.

"Jaune..." Weiss's voice was cool and quiet, but carried within it a definite note of disappointment. "Why did you lie to us?"

"Lie?" Pyrrha piped up, concern showing in her eyes. "What did he lie about?"

"These scars... they aren't from one fight," Weiss diagnosed. "Whatever's been going on, it's been going on for a while. Months... maybe even years. I can't tell quite how frequently, but... Jaune, what is this?"

Jaune slowly turned to face them, pain in his eyes. "Mmrl..."

Ren's eyes showed just as much concern as Pyrrha's, but his voice was as measured as ever when he asked, "Please speak louder, Jaune... we didn't quite hear that."

"Emerald," he repeated, slightly louder this time. "It was... Emerald."

"Emerald?" Nora asked, question marks appearing in her eyes. "Isn't that the name of the woman you married?"

Jaune turned to focus on the woman in pink, struggling to ignore the chill running over the group at her words. "Not... not married, not yet. Just... just my girlfriend."

"A g-g-girlfriend who's been b-b-beating you for y-years?" Yang asked, her eyes turning red with a blink. "N-not _my_ idea of a p-p-perfect romance."

"Look, it's not important," Jaune attempted to wave their worry aside. "She only did it when I deserved it, and-"

"Deserved it?"

Jaune froze and slowly turned to face Weiss, who was looking down at the ground. "She told you... that you deserved it?"

"I mean... I was pushing myself on her when she didn't want it, turning her away when she needed me-"

"Stop." Weiss raised her hand. "Just... stop. Even if I believed you'd do something like that intentionally, it's not grounds to tear your back open like this. I've been a doctor for seventeen years now, Jaune... and that's grotesque even by my standards. Nothing that you've done could ever warrant what she's done to you."

Pyrrha rose to her feet, looking desperate. "What has she been _telling_ you? To make you think that you _deserved_ what was happening?"

"Look, guys... it's nothing to worry about, really- she's just... she's just free-spirited. Who am I to-"

" _I_ am free-spirited, Jaune," Nora interrupted, looking uncharacteristically serious- she hadn't furrowed her brow like that even when she described the feeling of being disintegrated by Neo's impact with Remnant. " _Yang_ is free-spirited. Attacking someone you say you love like that, then telling them it's _their_ fault... that's _evil._ "

"I... I..."

Jaune's eyes were beginning to water. Pyrrha reached out, and he collapsed into her shoulder, shaking with unrepressed sobs. "I didn't know what to do... I couldn't tell anybody... she said if I did, she'd tell them I was doing worse things to her... I'd have gone to prison for life if she... if she told them... I didn't have anybody else to turn to! They just said the same as her- there was only one guy... Sage... he listened, but I couldn't tell him, either- what she'd do if she found out- I couldn't!"

"It's okay, Jaune," Pyrrha whispered, running her hand along his back, as the others stared on with looks of shock, horror, and anger. "It's okay... we won't let her come after you anymore. You're safe from her now- she can't get you here."

Jaune hiccupped lightly. "Who... who'd have thought the safest place for me was in Neo's grasp, huh?" he smiled wanly.

"We're all with you, Jaune," Weiss spoke up, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We won't _let_ her have you again."

"If I ever catch a glimpse of her, I'll break her legs!" Nora declared, leaping to her feet, looking a little _too_ eager to follow through on her threat.

"I can't condone Nora's proposed course of action," Ren added, smiling nonetheless, "but rest assured, I will do everything in my power to aid you through this situation."

Finally, Jaune found himself turning towards Yang, who stood up and pulled him close. Never had he found her infamous bear hugs so inviting.

"We're T-Team Loser," she whispered. "No m-matter what, we _always_ st-stick together."

Finally, she released him and returned to her seat. Jaune looked around, smiling slightly at all the supportive faces before returning to his spot at Ren's side. "Thank you... thank you all. I... I don't know what I did to deserve such great friends."

Pyrrha smiled, but inwardly, was burning to ask a question- but given all that had just transpired, it seemed inappropriate at best, and downright insensitive at worst. Instead, she resolved to ask, "So... if I may... do you remember how you got the other scar?"

"Other... scar?" Jaune asked, blinking.

"The one on your shoulder," Weiss elaborated. "The one that just appeared on the way here. Do you remember how you got it?"

Jaune paused, thinking deeply. "It... it had something to do with..."

Weiss reached out, running a gentle hand over his arm. "Don't strain yourself too hard," she nearly whispered. "If you can't remember the event itself, just think before it... what happened before? Find something you _do_ remember, and work your way up from there. That's what _I_ did."

Jaune looked around, receiving nods from Yang and Nora. He took a deep breath. "Alright," he nodded. "If I remember right, I'd just picked up the phone when

XXXX

Yang's voice rang out from the other side. "HEYA, VOMIT BOY!" she greeted jovially. Jaune leapt backwards, momentarily losing his grip on the phone and struggling to keep it from dropping to the floor.

"Hey, Yang!" he greeted when he finally had the situation under control again. "You sound happy today."

"Yup!" Yang responded, popping the 'p.' "W-We're getting t-together tomorrow to d-decide a p-plan of action. You in?"

Jaune glanced around to make sure his mother wasn't within earshot, then returned to the phone. "Into the Emerald Forest?" he guessed.

"Nope- we're h-heading out of t-town a little ways- ever h-heard of M-Mountain Glenn?"

Jaune thought it over. "Isn't that the place they were trying to expand to before the War for Remnant?"

"Yup! I h-hear they're p-planning to rebuild it s-s-soon, but for now, it's b-basically a ghost town- p-perfect for what we n-need!"

"Sounds good," Jaune nodded, "but... I don't know the way."

"Ren'll be sh-showing us the way," Yang explained. "J-just meet up with us at the usual sp-spot, 'kay?"

"A Simple Wok?"

"That's the one," Yang agreed. "Can I c-c-count on you?"

Jaune smiled. "Of course you can- I'll be there."

"You'll be where, Jauney?"

Jaune gave a mental yelp as he quickly dropped the phone back into its cradle before spinning around to see his mother standing nearby, hands on her hips. "What are you doing behind my back?" she prompted again.

"Oh, nothing, nothing," Jaune quickly waved aside. "I'm just... meeting up with a friend of mine!"

"A friend?" Jane Arc asked, scrutinizing him ever more closely. "What _kind_ of... friend?"

Jaune gulped- his mother would _flip_ if she found out he was routinely heading into the woods with five attractive girls... perhaps it was time to fib a bit... or, at least, to not tell the whole truth. "His name's Lie Ren," Jaune explained. "He's a bit of an explorer- he found something in Mountain Glenn- you know, that area just outside of town? He wants to show it to me, so we're meeting up tomorrow so he can take me there."

He hoped that the cold sweat he was feeling was just in his head as his mother eyed him more and more closely- he could practically see her nostrils dilating as if trying to sniff out a lie.

Apparently, she detected none. "Well... alright, Jauney," she backed off a bit. "I've heard of the Rens- a fine, upstanding family, from what I've heard. I don't believe he'd try to lead you into anything unsavory."

"He's a stand-up guy, alright!" Now that he was out of immediate danger, it was time to start appealing Ren to her. "He even saved me from Team Curdle once!"

"Did he, now?" Jane smiled. "Well, I owe him a thanks for that alone." A frown creased her face. "Unless... did he fight them off?"

"No, he and his Dad showed up- they kind of left on their own after that."

Jane's smile returned. "Good boy. Just because he _is_ one doesn't mean he has to _act_ like one, after all. Sorry for prying so closely, Jauney, it's just..."

"You worry about me?" Jaune guessed.

Jane nodded, kneeling down next to him and pulling him into a tight hug. "I worry a _lot,_ " she agreed, running her hands through his hair. Jaune felt chills down his spine, similar to how he'd felt the last time she'd done this, as if something just wasn't right.

"Well..." he finally coughed as he became more and more uncomfortable. "If... if I'm heading to Mountain Glenn tomorrow, I should probably get some sleep."

"Of course," Jane nodded, standing back up and turning around. "Just be careful, okay? See what you need to see, then come right back home."

Jaune nodded before turning into his own room, plopping himself down on his bed.

As he lay there, struggling to ease himself into a restful sleep, he found his thoughts turning to the leader of his new team. As a newcomer, he hadn't immediately understood why Yang, of all the candidates, was the leader- it seemed Blake or Weiss might have been a better choice. Well, okay, Blake might have lost some leadership points with her incredibly reserved nature, but Weiss, perhaps?

But over time, he'd slowly begun to understand. She carried a fire within her spirit that drew others to her, made them look up to her as a source of hope. He certainly felt it- despite her stutter, her every word held a sort of strength behind it, making it seem so natural that she had the answers- even if she really didn't. She genuinely cared for all her teammates- in a way, she was the sister he'd never had.

But it went even deeper than that. The words seemed to fade in on his lips, despite his brain telling him clearly how stupid they were-

 _Yang is_ good.

There was no other way he could think to put it- she was a light burning brightly against the darkness lurking in Vale. Ever since his first encounter with It, he'd felt absolutely helpless... but with Yang at the head of the movement against Neo, he began to genuinely feel that they stood a chance. The flame of hope and determination that Yang carried within her had spread, one by one, to each of her friends, and now they stood, the last and best chance that Vale had of being rid of its resident monstrosity for good.

A smile crossed his face, and he finally fell into a deep sleep, the brazen, smiling face of Yang Xiao Long hovering protectively above him.

XXXX

"N-nice to see you show up, V-Vomit Boy!" Yang greeted him when she spied him appearing over the horizon.

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized, glancing shamefacedly to one side.

"You're _not_ late," Blake assured him, glancing over the top of her omnipresent book. "We're still waiting on Weiss and Ren."

Jaune glanced around, finally noticing a distinct lack of said team members. "Oh, yeah... wait, Weiss is coming, too?"

"Of course!" Nora beamed. "Why wouldn't she?"

"Well, it's just... you know... between her arm, and her dad..."

"I was about to ask that myself," Pyrrha nodded, glancing at their leader. "Are you _sure_ she should be coming?"

"I was j-just as worried about it as y-you," Yang shrugged. "But the Ice Q-Queen insisted. S-something about arranging it w-with her butler." She smirked. "G-good ol' Weiss Cream, huh?"

Nora smiled, which turned into a beaming grin when she looked down the other side of the street. "Oh! Ren! Ren!"

They all turned to see the boy in green giving a calm smile as he approached them. "Glad to see I'm not the last one here," he greeted, bowing his head slightly. "Any idea when Weiss will be showing up?"

"We were just wondering that ourselves," Pyrrha shrugged.

"But forget that!" Nora interjected, putting on a mock-pout and crossing her arms in Ren's direction. "What are _you_ doing, running late on us, Ren?!"

Ren chuckled. "My apologies- I may have slept in a little. I was up last night working on something."

"F-For the fight?" Yang guessed.

"No, actually- for Nora."

Nora faltered. "For... for me?"

Ren reached into a pocket and produced what seemed to be a stone. "You asked if I could paint you something, and... well... here."

Nora let out a high-pitched squeal as she dove forward and seized whatever it was. She was positively glowing as she examined the stone- about the size of her palm, painted all over with a bright pink, except for negative space on one side forming a circle, in the center of which was a hammer overlaid with a lightning bolt. "It's sooooo awesome! I LOVE IT!" She leapt forward and pulled Ren into a tight hug. Ren twitched a bit at first, before smiling again and returning her grip- albeit not quite as tight.

*A-hem!*

It appeared Weiss had arrived. She was attempting to cross her arms, slightly complicated by the large cast still prominent on her right appendage. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"WEISS!" Nora released Ren and descended upon Weiss instead. Weiss flinched, but instead of hugging her as well, Nora produced the rock and began showing it off from every angle. "Y'see what Renny made me? You see? You see? YOU SEE?!"

"Yes, Nora, I see," Weiss nodded, backing off slightly. "It's very... lovely."

Ren approached next. "Are you still quite certain you should be coming with us today?"

Weiss met his gaze with a firm stare of her own. "I do not intend to be absent from any major proceedings, regardless of... this." She glanced at her right arm. "I managed to sneak out without the notice of my father- as long as we move at a decent pace, I should be back before he notices anything. If not, I'm sure I can think of some excuse."

"You're one d-devious m-mastermind all of a s-sudden, Schnee," Yang crossed her arms, an effect ruined by the grin on her face. "I'm s-so proud of you."

Weiss flushed slightly. "Yes... well... at any rate, while I _do_ intend to be present at today's proceedings, I think I may as well waive my attempt."

"Your... attempt?" Jaune asked confusedly.

"Perhaps we should be underway?" Ren suggested. "I'm sure we can discuss this while we walk."

"Of c-course," Yang nodded, motioning for him to start moving. "T-Team Loser, let's g-go!"

Ren turned and began guiding them through the town, leaving Pyrrha to return to the earlier topic of discussion. "So, what did you mean by your 'attempt,' Weiss?"

"Didn't Yang tell you?" Weiss asked. "It's about time we decided who will be taking the silver knife into the fight with Neo!"

"We'll all be bringing weapons, of course," Blake put in, finally speaking as she tucked her book away in a bag slung over her shoulder. "But we thought it would be best to have our trump card in the hands of the person who can use it best."

"Mountain Glenn offers a wide space to practice uninterrupted," Ren added. "So we'll head there and do some practice with the knife- the person who's the best with it gets the honor of using it against Neo."

"So... you aren't even going to try, Weiss?" Pyrrha pieced together, raising her eyebrows at the heiress.

Weiss glanced away pointedly. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not exactly in the best position to be wielding a knife against a monster at the moment."

"Are you s-sure?" Yang asked. "I m-mean, you take all those f-f-fencing classes."

"Fencing and knife-fighting are two very different things, Xiao Long," Weiss shot back. "Perhaps if you had the slightest amount of culture, you would know that. Besides... it doesn't seem like a wise idea to give our most potent weapon to someone hardly capable of wielding it, does it?"

As the others backed off, Jaune glanced around to see the buildings starting to become fewer and further between. "How much further?" he asked, somewhat nervously.

"Not _too_ far," Ren assured him. "It was intended to be _part_ of Vale, after all. In the meantime... once we have the knife-wielder decided, how do we find It?"

Yang crossed her arms, but this time, instead of smiling, she looked unsettled. "I h-h-hate to s-say it, but... I th-think we should g-go to the House on V-Vickery Lane."

A collective shudder passed over the group. "Why... why there?" Blake asked uncomfortably.

"Well... that's where _we_ found her, isn't it?" Nora shrugged.

"You think It lives there?" Pyrrha asked.

"No..." Yang shook her head slowly. "I thuh-think It l-l-lives in the s-sewers."

"The _sewers?_ " Weiss asked, blinking in surprise. "How did you come to _that_ conclusion?"

Yang took a deep breath, then began to explain. "It... it s-seems like It c-c-can appear anywhere in t-t-town... and the s-sewers would be a g-g-good way to t-travel without being s-s-seen. I d-don't really th-think it c-could live in j-just one house... but the s-s-sewers are a g-giant network of t-t-tunnels that It m-might feel right at h-home in."

"I suppose that makes sense," Ren nodded. "Disturbing as it is... the sewers would grant It near unrestricted access to the whole town."

"It came out of my sink!" Jaune recalled. "When It first attacked me, the hair came out of my sink!"

"And the voices!" Pyrrha recalled, staring at him. "They said that, too, didn't they? They said they were all 'down there.' Down... down in the sewers!"

Blake let out a cough. They turned towards her again. "Okay, so we've decided It probably lives in the sewers... why the House, then?"

Yang narrowed her eyes. "B-because it m-may not _l-live_ there, b-but I'm _c-certain_ it has a c-connection of some sort. We've gone n-near that H-House twice so far, and It w-was there b-b-both times."

Blake still didn't seem convinced, so Yang continued. "What d-do we have to l-l-lose? If we g-go there, and there's n-n-nothing, we l-look somewhere else. But if It _is_ th-there... then we d-don't have to look anymore."

Before anyone else could voice any objection, Ren spoke up. "We're here."

XXXX

Mountain Glenn definitely matched the description Yang had given it of 'Ghost Town'- the buildings were all incredibly dilapidated, more often then not seeming like cement skeletons rising towards the sky. Jaune could only imagine what the place had looked like before the war- it must have been grand enough to give cities like Argus or Shade a run for their money.

"This place... really must have been something, once," he spoke out loud.

"Yeah," Blake agreed, holding her arms as she gazed around the desolate landscape. "To think... this place is right on the edge of Vale..."

"It's much like the area around the Ellis hotel," Ren recalled. "That place was smaller scale, a little more overgrown... but I got the same feeling from that area that I get here."

Yang nodded, but didn't say anything else on the subject as she reached into her own bag and produced a bottle of spray paint that she began shaking. The others watched as she crossed to a nearby building and began spraying an image onto it- an image very much resembling a traditional bullseye target.

"Xiao Long, what are you doing?" Weiss asked, attempting to cross her arms again.

"You g-got a better idea, P-Princess?" Yang asked, moving to a nearby wooden beam, and doing her best to paint a target on it as well, compensating for its thinness.

Ren sounded somewhat skeptical as well. "You just want to attack the walls and beams?"

"If y-you've got a b-b-better idea, Ren, I'm all ears," Yang countered, locating a large wooden sheet inside a nearby building and tagging it as well.

The others looked at each other uncertainly as Yang continued around, placing a target on walls, floors, more boards and beams, and even one particularly low ceiling. Finally, she returned to them and reached back into her bag, producing a large knife- albeit not the one Weiss had shown them the other day.

"Where's the actual knife?" Pyrrha asked.

"B-Blake has it," Yang shrugged. "D-didn't want to r-run the risk of l-losing it out here, b-but this has about the suh-same balance."

"My parents won't kick up a fuss," Blake offered. "I just told them I was holding onto it for a friend. It's not... _entirely_ a lie."

"What else would you tell 'em?" Nora pointed out. "'Hey, Mom! Hey, Dad! I'm holding onto the only weapon me and my friends have against the embodiment of pure evil, you cool with me hanging onto it until we're ready to go fight It?'"

Blake chuckled slightly. "In fairness, I think Mom might take that in stride. Dad would probably just sigh and tell me to do whatever I wanted."

The chuckle seemed to spread around to the others before Yang ended it by offering Blake the knife. "S-so... want to t-try first?"

Blake bit her lip slightly as she accepted. "I still don't know about this..."

Pyrrha smiled. "It's okay if you're uncomfortable... but we need the best person to be the one with the knife."

Blake nodded, before beginning to move, dashing around to all the targets Yang had painted, jabbing the knife into each. When she completed the course, Weiss stepped forward and examined them. "Decently accurate," she declared. "Not a bad start, but there _is_ room for improvement. Next?"

Blake glanced around before handing the knife off to Ren, who was nearest. He nodded respectfully before beginning a sprint of his own. Unlike Blake, he wielded the knife overhand, bringing it down on most of the targets as he ran past, only flipping it around for the target on the ceiling- which he barely managed to nick.

"Good, good," Weiss judged. "That said, a little more accuracy could have served you well, and the one on the ceiling... I'm thinking that's going to be a problem for all of you."

Ren bowed his head respectfully at the criticism before turning around and handing the knife to Yang, who turned it over in her hands. "Right... let's go!"

She took off and began jabbing the knife rapidly into each target she passed, leaving a deep mark every time, up to and including the one on the ceiling, where she actually embedded it into the wood and had to work to pull it back out again.

Weiss bit her lip as she examined Yang's handiwork. "Well, the enthusiasm is certainly there..." she began. "If you were to land a hit, it would definitely _hurt..._ but we're not looking to _hurt_ It- we're looking to _kill_ It. And... you didn't really come anywhere near the bullseye."

Yang crossed her arms. "T-taking this away f-from me, P-Princess?"

"Of course not," Weiss shook her head, unperturbed. "But surely you want someone to use the knife who will actually land a killing blow with it."

Yang reluctantly conceded the point before turning towards the remaining candidates- Nora, Pyrrha, and Jaune. "Alright, who's n-n-next?"

Weiss cleared her throat. "Perhaps we ought to pass over Nora for now?" she suggested. "Nothing against you, of course, Nora, but... we don't want to break the knife."

"Ah, I don't want the silly knife anyway!" Nora brushed aside with a grin. "I'd rather bring in a trusty hammer!"

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying you're waiving your candidacy as well?"

"If that means I don't care about the knife, then yes!" Nora nodded. "Give it to Jauney- let's see what he can do!"

Jaune gulped as he slowly reached out. "I'll... I'll try my best..."

Yang smiled as she flipped the knife around, offering him the handle. "Make us p-proud, Vomit Boy."

"I'm sure you'll do wonderfully, Jaune," Pyrrha added with a glowing smile.

Jaune turned towards the course Yang had forged, struggling to steady his breath. Finally, he broke into a run, darting towards each target in succession, plunging the knife towards each before moving on to the next. Through windows, under debris, and hurdling over a large stone pillar that had collapsed in the street, he finally made his way to the final target where, like Yang, he plunged the knife so hard into the ceiling that it was a task to pull it out again.

Weiss immediately set about grading his attempt, her eyes widening as she made her way through. Finally, she turned back to him. "Nine bullseyes..." she said slowly. "Nine... out of ten... bullseyes. Jaune... when did _you_ get so good with a knife?"

Jaune shrank beneath the others' questioning gazes. "I... er... I don't know? I never really practiced with one before. I mean, I make dinner for my Mom most nights, but that's about it..."

Pyrrha smiled. "Well, with that performance, I don't think I need to go anymore, do you?"

Weiss glanced again at the near-perfect bullseyes scattered around the area. "No... no, if you feel like passing it up, I'm fine giving Jaune the position. Yang?"

Yang turned to raise her eyebrows at Jaune. "N-Not half bad, V-Vomit Boy," she finally smiled. "K-Keep the kn-knife- feel free to p-p-practice with it. B-Blake can g-give you the r-real thing wh-when we're ready."

"If... if you're sure," Jaune nodded uncertainly.

Yang clapped her hands together. "Welp! I'm s-sure W-Weissy's gotta be home s-soon, so l-let's get going b-back home! We can m-m-meet up and lay out the r-rest of our p-plans later!"

XXXX

The next time Jaune went to Mountain Glenn, he was alone. It wasn't by choice- It or no It, he'd much rather have gone with a friend, but they were all busy. From what he was able to gather, Weiss was under further scrutiny from her father, who was struggling to ensure that she was no longer in contact with her friends. Yang was talking to her father as well, trying to find out- in her own, roundabout way- whether he might have a map of the sewers beneath Vale. Ren was busy doing chores on his family's farm, which Nora had apparently volunteered to assist with- he had a sneaking suspicion that she had her own ulterior motives for that. Pyrrha had sounded very regretful about having to turn his invitation down, but seemed to be engaging in a family activity with her mother, and, upon hearing that nobody else would be able to go, Blake had rejected him outright.

No, he wasn't happy to be going it alone, but he was even less happy with the idea of screwing up at the last second and failing to do his duty as the chosen knife-wielder. Thus, he resolved to head out anyways, heading into the remains of the old city, where he set about finding his way towards the place they'd had the competition in the first place.

He had hardly made any progress at all when he heard voices up ahead- "-know they were out here somewhere..."

His blood turned to ice as he recognized the voice as that of Dove Bronzewing. Things only got worse when Cardin Winchester answered. "Good... then we'll scout around until they show up again- and they will. Those freaks always hang around the same places."

Moving quickly, Jaune ducked into a nearby alley, watching from the shadows as Team CRDL marched by- all four of them, this time. Cardin was at the lead, Dove not far behind, Sky Lark in third, and Russell Thrush following last with his usual odd smirk on his face.

"Why would they come all the way out here?" Sky asked, sounding uncertain. "It's just a bunch of wasteland."

"Why would they be friends with a furry?" Cardin shot back. "How do _I_ know how those freaks' minds work?"

"To catch your prey, you ought to know your prey," Russell volunteered.

Cardin turned to glare at him. "Yeah, I'm _really_ keen on taking advice from the guy who ditched us when we needed him the most."

"I already explained, Cardin," Russell shrugged. "There was no winning that fight. We were outnumbered and they were better prepared."

"It doesn't matter!" Cardin snarled. " _We_ stood _our_ ground, and you left us to fend for ourselves! _That's_ all that matters!"

"I'm making it up now, aren't I?" Russell replied unconcernedly, leaning his head back into his own outstretched arms. "I'm helping you hunt them down _now._ And believe me, when we find them, I'll be the first to lay in."

Jaune gulped- he _really_ didn't like the tone in Russell's voice when he said that.

Cardin frowned, turning to the other two members of his team. "Go home, you two," he ordered. "It doesn't look like they're coming today- I need to have a word alone with Russell."

"But Cardin-" Sky started.

Cardin silenced him with a glare. "Go. Home. _Now._ "

Sky and Dove seemed to be quailing as they threw nervous glances at each other before turning and dashing off into the distance.

Jaune wanted to run very badly, but he didn't want to alert the two remaining bullies to his presence, either. In the end, he found himself listening intently on what they were saying to each other- maybe he could work out what their next plan was.

Russell started the conversation up again. "Well, well, Cardin! If you wanted me alone, all you had to do was ask..."

"Cut the bullshit," Cardin fired back, eyes narrowing. "You've been putting up this weird act for a while, and I'm starting to get sick of it."

"Can't say I know what you mean," Russell shrugged offhandedly.

"You keep trying to undermine me every chance you get," Cardin snarled. "Ditching us, trying to make me look like an idiot..."

"Oh, Cardin, you never looked like an idiot to me," Russell smirked, drawing closer and running a finger under Cardin's chin. "Why don't I show you what I _really_ think of you?"

"I told you to _cut that shit out!_ " Cardin snapped, pulling away. "I am _not_ in the mood!"

"When _will_ you be in the mood?" Russell asked without missing a beat- from his position, Jaune was in no place to tell how seriously the boy was actually taking that question.

"Not now, not ever!" Cardin snarled. "I swear to Dust, Thrush, if you keep this up, I'll ruin you!"

Russell paused to throw back his head and laugh. "You really think you have anything on me, Winchester? I have so much dirt on you that I could ask you to do just about anything! I could have you take your pants off right-"

"I know you don't want anyone looking in the basement of that building," Cardin interrupted, and Russell froze.

He wasn't smiling anymore.

Cardin didn't smile either as he raised his arms up and crossed them over each other. "Yeah, that got your attention, didn't it? You talk a big game, but you won't do _jack_ if your secret's on the line, will you?"

Russell crossed his arms as well. "You're not gonna tell anybody."

"I'm not, am I?" Cardin retorted. "We'll see. Don't think I'll hesitate to do it if you keep this shitshow up. Consider this a warning."

With that, Cardin turned and stormed off after Dove and Sky, leaving Russell to stare after him- and, unbeknownst to them both, a very intrigued Jaune Arc.

Jaune pulled further into the shadows as Russell glanced around, taking in his surroundings before suddenly starting off in the opposite direction from town. Jaune glanced between him and central Vale, hesitating only a moment before his curiosity overcame him, and he set off after Russell.

XXXX

As far as Team CRDL goes, Cardin himself tended to get the most bad press- after all, he was their leader, and often the most vocal in his hatred of others. He practically spent more time in detention than in normal school, and was the one to guide his team on their various bullying exploits. Nobody- not from Team Loser, not among the school staff, not even Cardin himself- suspected the depths that his right-hand man, Russell Thrush, had sunk to years before they'd even met.

Perhaps, if Team Loser _had_ been aware of just how deep Russell's issues went, they might have described him as the exact opposite of Yang Xiao Long, in practically every way. Male and female, yes, of course, but beyond that, he was a bully, where she hunted down those who preyed upon others. He had cut and styled his hair in a way that she would never dream of doing- she let her hair flow long and free at all times.

But, perhaps deeper than anything else, Yang spent a full year looking to rescue her younger sister, whereas Russell Thrush had been five years old when he murdered his younger brother.

Russell Thrush had been an odd child from the moment he was born, hardly ever crying. Whether there was a defect in his brain that had taken root already, even then, or if he had truly begun to turn only after becoming capable of some degree of rational thought, it is difficult to discern. But whether it was a disorder or his own reasoning that caused him to think this way, he had been only three or four years old when he determined that he was the only real being in existence- all others were simply figments of his own imagination, called into being by his mind to serve and amuse him.

Perhaps this was the core reason for his general fearlessness- there was no point, after all, in fearing things that didn't exist in the first place. Sympathy and empathy were alien concepts to him- why pity those who were essentially holograms? He had an academic sense of what pain was, but hardly seemed to register it on a conscious level, further explaining his willingness to inflict it on others.

Thus far, there had only been two instances in his life that he had so much as contemplated the possibility of others that were 'real.' The more recent occasion, a year or two prior to the disappearances, had been more of a passing thought- something that had caused him to shudder and swiftly dismiss it to the back of his mind. The first occasion, however, was when he was five years old, and his parents had given birth to a young boy- Adrian Thrush.

For the first time in his life, his parents had ceased to dote on him, turning and giving more attention to this new creature in their home- this wailing, drooling creature with black hair and brown eyes- than to their son. It hadn't taken long for a deep fear to take root in Russell's mind- what if- just _what if_ \- he was wrong? What if his brother was just as real as he was, and his birth marked the start of him having to share his world with another?

It was an intolerable idea, and he had swiftly moved against it.

One night, moving through the darkness of their house, he had made his way to his brother's room, gazing down upon his sleeping form. His brother awoke as he removed his pillow out from under him, but did not cry- he seemed to recognize his brother, and seemed to believe he was playing a game of some sort. Russell rewarded this faith by gently placing the pillow over his brother's face, holding it there tightly.

He could still feel his brother struggling beneath him, first growing uncomfortable, then growing outright desperate for air. Russell held fast, refusing to remove the cushion from his face. The squirming escalated to kicking and screaming, but the pillow muffled the baby's cries for help.

Eventually, the squirming ceased. Russell removed the pillow, lowering his head onto the baby to ensure that he was no longer breathing.

His work done, he had returned to his room, sleeping as comfortably as ever.

He had awoken to his parent's cries as they discovered their newborn had passed away during the night. He had been sure to appear properly sad and devastated whenever questioning eyes turned towards him over the next week or so, keeping his smiles entirely to himself- he had secured his world for himself once more.

The incident had forever changed the boy. He had gotten a taste of power that day- the power to hold another's life in his hands, to grant it or extinguish it as he saw fit. He wanted to experience that feeling again.

He was careful about his next activities- even believing he was the only real being in the universe, he wasn't fool enough to go around killing anybody he decided to. He knew there were rules in this world of his- rules that he needed to observe in order to keep the peace with these projections of his mind. Killing more people would be against the rules- he'd managed it with his brother, but he had no illusions that continuing to kill people indiscriminately would catch too much attention for his liking.

Animals, however...

Animals were wont to go missing all the time, especially in a town like Vale, with a sizable forest at its edge. It had begun with strays, luring them in and killing them in increasingly creative ways, often using the Haven river to dispose of the corpses.

It had been part way through middle school that he had discovered Mountain Glenn- a perfect wasteland, in his mind. Nobody around for miles- nobody to hear the howling of cats or dogs as they were disposed of distantly from the public eye.

Deeper into the city, he had found an old basement in one of the buildings that had managed to survive the area's destruction, a pair of doors placed diagonally into the ground opening into a small underground chamber. What it had originally contained, Russell neither knew nor cared. He saw it only as a place to continue his hobby.

Not long after, he had moved up from picking animals off the street to snatching pets when their owners weren't looking, pushing them into bags and carrying them back to Mountain Glenn. He had become quite the professional at avoiding the eyes of anyone who might try and stop him- after all, he was starting to put some serious strain on their rules. His favorite method of disposing of the animals was now to leave them in the basement, locked away, and see how long they lasted before giving out. The record currently went to a tortoise who had managed almost a full week before its heart finally gave out. Sometimes, he'd place animals of different species in the basement and leave them there, coming back to find that one had killed the other. He found in all of it the same odd delight he found in the murder of his brother.

It was to this basement door that he was now hurrying. He hadn't initially worried when he heard that construction crews would be going through Mountain Glenn soon- if anything, he found the idea of them stumbling upon his basement- with no way of knowing who had left it in its current state- to be highly amusing. But if Cardin truly intended to spill the beans about what the room was being used for, it was about time to dispose of the evidence. He knew he wouldn't get in quite as much trouble for this as he would for murdering people- and even Cardin didn't know he'd once killed a person- but he didn't like to think about what _would_ happen.

He continued on through the abandoned buildings, until he came upon one in particular, hurrying across to the door that opened upon his basement.

Across the street from him, keeping to the shadows, Jaune continued watching with narrowed eyes, wondering what this member of Team CRDL was up to.

Russell knelt down and, with a slight grunt of effort, opened the door- and blinked in confusion at what he saw.

The basement wasn't empty- it was filled with strange figures in hoods, cloaks, and masks. They were all remarkably short, but it seemed as though there were far more than should be able to fit in such a small space. The moment the door was open, they turned towards him, letting loose with a demonic chattering as they began clambering up the steps towards him.

Russell started backwards as one of them, wearing a mask heavily resembling a plague doctor, lunged forward and planted a knife into his arm. He hardly felt the pain, but what he did feel was much worse- he felt... drained, as if the creature was stealing his life force, taking it through the blade. For the first time since he'd been five years old, he began to panic.

He pulled backwards, wrenching the knife from his arm as he turned and began to run, the army of creatures following close behind.

Russell continued sprinting through the remains of Mountain Glenn, the chittering continuing to follow not far behind. He began to weave through the buildings, desperate to escape, until at last, he felt as though he'd finally evaded them.

Then he looked up.

Atop the buildings was another creature- this one far more colossal than the others. It had to stand at least nine feet tall, perhaps taller, and it was incredibly bulky- though the heavy robes it wore made it difficult to tell for sure. The outermost robe was of a deep red, and the hood concealed the face, but none of that was what drew Russell's attention first- what immediately caught his eye was the two long horns curving out of its head behind its back.

Moving with far more swiftness than one might have expected, based on its size, the creature jumped straight up in the air, far higher than should have been possible, before descending over seventy feet, landing on the ground with a resounding crash. From here, Russell could make out more detail- the chains wrapped around its body, the branches clutched under one arm, the large sack over its back, and the hooves upon which the creature walked. There was no longer any doubt- this was the one thing that had caused him fear since the death of his brother.

Krampus.

Of course he had never told any of his friends, but the idea of the Christmas Devil had caused him no small amount of dread after leaving the theater. As the rest of Team CRDL had chuckled on their way out of the theater, he found himself thinking of the broader implications- of the idea of some all-knowing creature ready to pass judgement on all others. The way he had seen the movie, perhaps, was the closest he had ever come to seeing the world in the same way Blake had just before her own passing- seeing himself as tiny, insignificant. Of course it was fake- he had assured himself of that- but the idea of something like that truly existing- of possibly being another real creature, just as ready as he had been to protect its universe from interlopers who didn't play by its own rules... it sent a chill down his spine.

Russell rose to his feet, turning and sprinting away. The creature uncoiled one of the chains around its shoulder and cast it forward. It wrapped itself around Russell's torso, dragging him back, screaming, towards the one being capable of giving him nightmares.

It reached out with one hand and lifted him up, granting him a view of its cold, dead face, the jaw hanging open unnaturally, almost more like a mask than a true face. Its eyes were of different colors- pink and brown- while the pupils were the unnatural rectangular shape of a goat's.

Then it spoke, in a low, gruff voice that seemed to echo from the depths of a tomb. "You've been a naughty boy, Russell. Time for you to come with me..."

He continued to struggle as rough hands began forcing him into the sack previously slung over Krampus's back. As he fought for his life, he failed to hear Krampus speak again, this time in a voice utterly alien to the rest of its body- cool, calm, and decidedly female. "It's a shame, really. In another life, we might have been friends. Oh, well- what will be, will be."

As Russell saw the endless black inside the bag, his final thoughts turned to madness- wild, unadulterated madness. He turned around and saw his last glimpse of the light before the sack was sealed, and he was plunged into final darkness.

XXXX

As Russell had commenced his run through the town, one of the creatures behind him had paused in the street, turning its attention towards something else- in particular, the one with the long beak curving out of its mask, causing it to resemble a plague doctor. Rather than following the rest of the pack, it turned towards the building opposite the one it had just been hiding in, and began approaching.

Jaune's heart raced as he sensed it drawing closer and closer. He stayed rooted where he was, not wanting to give his position away. His heart rate continued to rise as the hooded figure drew closer and closer, until he finally gave in to his fear, breaking into a sprint.

The creature let out a war cry of sorts, undoing a chain of its own and casting it after the boy. The hook at the end found its way into his shoulder, forcefully dragging him back, and prompting him to scream in pain. He reached back and managed to pull the hook out before realizing the creature was now rushing towards him. Out of desperation more than anything, he reached into his bag and produced the knife he'd brought to train with, raising it up just in time to catch the monster squarely in the chest. The creature pulled back, letting out an unearthly screech of pain, before collapsing on the ground.

Jaune stood there, panting for a second, before looking after Russell. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he allowed Russell to die at Its hands without even trying to stop it.

It seemed as though the army of creatures had disappeared, so he set off running through the city, trying to catch up to Russell himself.

He finally rounded a corner just in time to see Russell's legs disappearing into Krampus's sack. He screeched to a halt, his eyes widening in terror- the image before him was burned into his memory. He didn't wait for Krampus to notice him- instead, he turned and dashed away into the city's ruins, no longer caring about the direction, only intent on putting as much distance between himself and that... _thing_ as possible.

XXXX

It was two days later that he returned- this time, the rest of Team Loser came with him, bundled close together as they united to keep an eye out for any signs of a snow demon, as Jaune had referred to it. Weiss seemed the most panicked- after all, she had been raised on stories of the Atlesian monster. The rest of them had different degrees of terror, up to Yang, who abandoned fear in favor of rage- she was struggling to keep her eyes their natural shade of amethyst as she followed Jaune through the skeletal buildings towards the basement Russell had previously led him to.

For the first time, Jaune had his hand clenched tightly around the silver knife Weiss had discovered in her attic- Yang had rationalized that if It really _was_ still here, now as good a time as any to strike, though none of them felt it was really that likely.

When they arrived at the door, Blake produced a length of rope, tying one end to the handles of the door before following the others as far away as they could get.

"If It c-c-comes out alone, w-we hit it w-w-with everything we h-have," Yang ordered, her hands clenched into fists. "If an army of th-those c-c-creatures comes out... we r-r-r-run."

The others nodded in agreement. Blake glanced around, double-checking to make sure everyone else was ready before delivering a sharp tug to the rope.

The basement door swung open. Nothing came out.

Treading lightly, Team Loser moved out of their hiding place and approached the entrance. They were immediately struck by a horrendous smell emanating from the space below. Weiss covered her nose immediately, while Blake staggered backward, gagging, before following Weiss's example.

"It doesn't appear there's anyone down there," Ren announced, peering intently into the darkness.

"Then what _is?_ " Nora asked. "Things don't start smelling that bad by _accident!_ "

Ren shrugged, then began his descent down the short flight of steps, the rest of the team not far behind.

They were unprepared for what they saw- the remains of several animals scattered around the floor- bones and bits of rotted flesh immediately explained the smell.

"This... this wasn't It," Pyrrha whispered, gazing around in horror. "This... this had to have been Russell."

"I always knew that bastard was screwed up," Nora nodded, "but this is a whole other level!"

Yang, however, found her gaze caught by something else altogether. "Th-this may n-n-not be It... but _th-th-that_ is."

They all jumped, following Yang's finger towards a message scrawled on the opposite wall in a disturbingly familiar red.

 _SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ICE CREAM LADY_

 _THOSE WHO FIGHT_

 _DIE IF YOU TRY_

 _A REMINDER FROM YOUR GOOD FRIEND_

 _NEO POLITAN_

Yang's breathing was growing more ragged. Her eyes opened, revealing a shade of dark crimson. She turned and dashed up the steps, the rest of Team Loser following close behind to find her screaming out on the streets.

"YOU TOOK MY SISTER, YOU BITCH! WHY DON'T YOU COME OUT AND _FACE_ ME! STOP HIDING, YOU FUCKING COWARD! COME OUT HERE AND GIVE ME MY SISTER BACK! COME OUT... and give... g-g-give her b-b-back..."

Her anger seemed to be fading, and she collapsed onto the streets, now shaking with sobs.

Blake was the first to approach, assisting her to her feet. "Yang..."

"I _h-h-hate_ her!" Yang shouted, turning to face them with tears in her eyes. "I _f-fucking HATE_ her! But... but I c-c-can't do anything a... alone..."

The gaze she fixed them all with was perhaps the most genuine they'd ever seen. "H-help me... _p-p-please..._ help me..."

One by one, they all drew nearer, placing their arms around her- Weiss careful not to strain her bad arm. Jaune found himself nearer this time, taking in the comfort of her higher-than-normal temperature. He didn't know how she did it- even now, in one of her darkest times, she managed to be a beacon of hope.

 _XXXX_

Please R&R, constructive criticism and questions embraced, Gamer4 out.


	37. Pyrrha Nikos Protects a Friend (C)

Gamer4 in. It's been a little longer than I planned. Nothing else to do other than dive right in, I suppose- as ever, I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I'm so happy just to have you here! Your smiles bring me sunshine, worries disappear!

Chapter XXXVI

Pyrrha Nikos Protects a Friend

By the time Jaune finished his narrative, the conditions in the library had descended to nearly intolerable levels. The lights were incredibly dim, struggling to return to their usual brightness only to continue flickering. The blood that had previously been spelling messages across the walls thickened to the point of erasing its own words. An acrid smell hung in the air, indescribable to the people experiencing it, combining the coppery scent of the liquid on the walls with the rancid odor of a thousand open graves.

"Should we put our hands together?" Nora suggested, glancing around nervously.

"I believe that would be for the best, yes," Ren agreed, extending his hands to his side. The rest of the team followed suit, re-securing the circle. Unlike before, it didn't seem to help much.

"I believe we have time for one more story before we make tracks," Ren said. "And I know just the person to tell it."

Pyrrha blinked as everyone turned towards her, before glancing self-consciously to her belly, where the three ugly scars still festered, albeit now covered by clothing. "Do you remember what happened?" Weiss prompted gently.

"I... I think it's beginning to come back to me," Pyrrha nodded. She fixed her gaze with Ren's. "It... it was when we went into the House, wasn't it?"

The others' gazes grew stronger- Yang, in particular, seemed to be trying to drill holes into Pyrrha's skull to get the information she sought. Ren, however, remained calm as he nodded. "Yes... yes, I believe it was."

"Y-you remember?" Yang asked urgently. "Our f-f-fight with I-It? You r-r-remember?"

Pyrrha nodded. "I remember fighting It."

Weiss's eyes widened as her left hand raised her inhaler to her mouth for a pull. She coughed anyways after lowering it.

"Are you okay, Weiss?" Ren asked, turning towards her with concern.

"It's... this is ridiculous..." Weiss spoke with harsh words, but her tone and expression both indicated she was on the verge of tears. "I know... it's _nothing,_ I know it now better than ever. Just a mix of liquid that _tastes_ like medicine... but I can't stop taking it! I can't... I could never let it go..."

She felt another hand over her own, and looked up to see Jaune smiling at her. "Hey- if it helps, it's all good, right? It's like Klein said- gazebos are usually good things."

Weiss smiled, letting loose with a watery chuckle. "It's _placebos,_ you dunce."

Jaune's face flushed immediately, and he leaned back. "Oh. Right."

A laugh spread over the group at the expense of Jaune's verbal blunder. Eventually, even he joined in.

Finally, Pyrrha drew their attention with a cough. "I remember you telling us about it... back then."

"About my medicine?" Weiss asked.

"Yes," Pyrrha nodded. "The day before we went in, we met up one last time to go over the plan. It was early in the morning- I thought I was going to be the first one there, but when I got there, Jaune

XXXX

was already waiting, gazing at a nearby wall fully decorated with missing posters. Smiling, she approached. "You made good time," she commented, announcing her presence.

"Yeah," Jaune nodded, turning to smile at her. "Had to book it out of my house early- Mom wouldn't be happy if she saw me coming out here to meet up with five girls."

Pyrrha couldn't stop a small smile from creasing her face. "Helicopter Mom, huh?"

"You have no idea," Jaune nodded. "She'd freak out if she knew what I was actually doing out here."

A fantasy began to play out in Pyrrha's head, in which she confronted Jaune's mother for his sake.

" _Jaune needs a life outside of his home! If you let him go, there are so many great things he could do!"_

" _What would you know, you uncultured wench?" Jane Arc volleyed back, in a voice that was oddly similar to that of Jacques Schnee. "I can see how_ you've _lived your life up until now- absolute, unrestrained avarice!"_

" _Maybe, but Jaune can make me a better person- with him by my side, I can accomplish anything!"_

 _Jaune stood nearby, and looked taken aback by her words. "Pyrrha... are you saying...?"_

" _Yes, Jaune- I love you, and I always have!"_

" _Pyrrha- I love you too! Ever since we teamed up against Neo, I've wanted to tell you how I really feel-"_

" _NO!" his mother objected. "I will_ not _permit my son to run away with some... some_ hussy!"

" _You can't break our bond- not with the greatest weapons in the world!" Pyrrha fired back, stretching out her hand and holding tightly to Jaune's._

" _I love you, Pyrrha," Jaune repeated, gazing at her with those wonderful blue eyes-_

"Pyrrha? Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha blinked her way back out of her fantasy, returning her gaze towards Jaune, who had returned his attention to the wall.

"Yes, Jaune?"

"I was asking if you'd seen this..."

Pyrrha approached and followed Jaune's gaze towards the wall. "The missing posters? Of course I have, they've been up ever since-"

"Not just the missing posters, it's..." Jaune paused. "It's Russell."

Pyrrha focused on the posters themselves. It was as Jaune said- the majority of the posters depicted the boy with the mohawk that had vanished in Mountain Glenn less than a week ago. "Well, I'm sure his parents are as eager as all the others to find their child..."

"It's not just that," Jaune shook his head, reaching out and peeling one of the posters away, revealing even more sheets of paper beneath. "Look. They've covered up Coco."

Pyrrha winced as she realized that he was right- there were so many posters for Russell Thrush that seemingly none remained for the previous victims.

"Thinking about it... the same thing happened before. Coco's posters covered up Gretchen Rainart's... and hers were covering up James Peach's... even Velvet's were covering up Ruby's, if I remember right... like the town is just... forgetting everyone who vanishes."

Pyrrha placed a hand over Jaune's. "But _we_ aren't. That's why we're going to fight It, right? For everyone who's been lost."

"D-damn straight."

They turned to see the others approaching- Yang, Blake, Ren, and Nora- only Weiss was absent. Yang's arms were crossed as she nodded in approval at Pyrrha's words. "It's n-not g-g-gonna get away w-w-with this," she continued. "N-not with T-Team Loser on the c-case."

"We're gonna kick It's ass so hard Its _parents_ will feel it!" Nora cheered.

"Does It have parents?" Ren wondered. "Does It even reproduce?"

Blake shuddered. "Do _not_ put images like that into my head, thank you very much."

Jaune smiled at his friends' antics. "Is Weiss turning up today?"

"She said she was gonna," Nora nodded, "but you know how it is- it's getting harder n' harder for her to get time away from her Dad!"

"Indeed," Ren nodded, crossing his arms. "I don't much care for that... individual."

"Translation- Weiss's dad can go suck a railroad spike!" Nora grinned cheerfully.

Yang laughed. "R-Ren's anger t-translator," she commented. "Wh-when you n-need to know wh-what he's _r-really_ thinking."

Jaune joined in the laughter. "Blake should get one of those, too."

Blake shrugged. "Dust knows _Weiss_ doesn't need one..."

"Need what?"

The woman of the hour had arrived, arm still in its cast. "Weissy!" Nora crowed. "We were just talking about which of us need to get anger translators?"

Weiss stared for a second before shaking her head. "No, no, I don't want to know..."

Nora and Yang only laughed harder at this reaction. Ren allowed himself a smile before clapping his hands together. "So... are we going to put together our final plans for the assault?"

Just like that, the mood dropped. It was especially obvious in Yang and Nora, whose smiles disappeared in record time, and in Blake, whose ears were clearly flattening themselves against her head, despite the bow covering them up.

Jaune let out a cough. "Well... I still have the knife from before, so... we've got that going for us."

"Has anyone done research into what type of monster could be easily killed with it?" Weiss asked.

To nobody's surprise, Blake was the first to answer. "I've done some digging, and... I think our best bet would be a beowolf."

"A beowolf?" Jaune asked nervously.

"A common enough legend," Ren elaborated. "According to the lore-"

"No, no, I know what a beowolf _is,_ " Jaune interrupted. "It's just... do we really want to put all our bets on a fight with one?"

"This was hardly ever going to be easy," Weiss pointed out. "They are vicious, but they're also weak to silver- if we could force Neo into beowolf form and get a solid hit with the knife, that just might do it."

"If, might, if, might, if, might!" Nora shook her head. "We don't know _anything_ for sure!"

"But we're not going to get anywhere just talking about it for the rest of the summer, either," Pyrrha pointed out. "If we're going to get anywhere, we have to try out our plans eventually."

"Exactly," Yang nodded vigorously. "So... w-will everyone b-b-be free t-tomorrow?"

"Me and Weiss will have to sneak by our parents no matter _when_ we do it," Jaune commented. "So... I think we're as good to go tomorrow as any other day."

"Weiss and I," Weiss corrected. "But otherwise, yes, I agree with your assessment of the situation."

"I don't think my parents'll even be home tomorrow," Nora put in. "Nothin' stopping me!"

"My parents believe in a very... liberal upbringing," Blake agreed. "If... if we have to do this at all... I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

"Ditto," Pyrrha nodded- as did Ren.

"And I w-wouldn't have s-suggested it if _I_ c-couldn't make it," Yang concluded. "So... t-tomorrow it is. Everyone f-find some weapons t-tonight- n-n-nobody goes in unarmed. W-we'll m-meet at the usual p-p-place, and g-go to the House on V-Vickery Lane from there."

"And if she's not there?" Blake asked, almost hopefully.

"W-we'll cross that b-b-bridge when we c-come to it," Yang shrugged. "If th-that's everything..."

Weiss coughed, drawing the others' attention. "I... I have a confession to make," she almost whispered. "Before... before I go back."

Nora gasped. "You're a man?!" She spun around to face Blake. "Cough it up, Blake! Two hundred lien!"

"Nothing like that!" Weiss cut her off, speaking louder for a moment before returning to her original, softer voice. "I... I found something out the day my arm broke. I was going to tell you, but... I never really got the chance. I was going in to get my prescription refilled..."

She watched as her friends' faces altered in accordance with her story, finally ending in general outrage. "He... your father would do something like that to you?" Jaune asked, fury very evident in his voice.

"I... I didn't want to think so..." Weiss admitted. "I wanted to think that Klein was lying... or mistaken... but with what he showed me, I can't just brush it aside. It's... it's exactly the same... all just one big placebo. I... I don't know what to do..."

"Does it help?" Blake asked, meeting her eyes dead on.

"I... what?" Weiss asked, confused.

"Does the medicine help you?"

"I... yes, but..."

"Then for now, it doesn't matter. We can worry about the broader implications later, but for now... up against this _thing..._ anything that helps is welcome. Don't worry- we'll be with you."

Weiss gave a weak smile.

XXXX

Just like the previous day, Jaune was the first to awaken. He immediately went to the spot that had become his go-to hiding place for things he didn't want his mother to find- the postcard, the game he never got to play, and the silver knife. He threw one last glance at the card as he took the knife, briefly wondering if he'd ever know for certain who'd sent it. There was a surreal feeling running through him as he turned and left his room, wondering if he'd ever see it again- not that it mattered. It was time for Team Loser to take their stand- for everyone who'd already run into It, and anyone who might in the future if they failed.

His heart leapt into his throat when he spied his mother in the living room, only to calm slightly when he saw that she was asleep- it seemed she'd passed out on the couch with the TV on in front of her. It was currently showing an odd ice cream commercial involving a person covered in the frozen treat helping themselves to their coating. He shuddered- how was that supposed to appeal to anyone? He tightened his grip on the knife again as he made his way through the door, opening and closing it as quietly as he could before setting off towards central Vale.

XXXX

Yang's eyes flickered open, and she pulled herself out of bed. Today was the day- at long last, it was time to hunt that bitch down and get her sister back.

She entered the upstairs hallway, glancing momentarily into her father's room, where he lay, snoring like a bear. Their dinner last night had been nearly silent- even after all this time, they didn't seem capable of getting around the barrier between them- the barrier left by Ruby's absence.

Yang continued to tread lightly as she made her way downstairs, and ultimately into the closet containing her father's gun. She knew now that it was only a stopgap measure as far as fighting Neo was concerned, but it was better- _far_ better- than nothing at all. She reached into her pockets and clenched her fists around a set of brass knuckles- if all else failed, she would be only too happy to get up close and personal with her tormentor, but common sense told her that such a thing should be only a last resort.

She took several deep breaths as she approached her front door.

"H-h-hotter than the s-s-sun in the m-m-middle of J-July, I b-b-burn... hotter th-than the s-sun in the m-middle of July, I b-burn... hotter than the sun in the middle of July, I burn..."

XXXX

Ren awoke far earlier than he'd expected, though he didn't feel much like he'd managed any sleep in the first place. If he had, most of his dreams had been of trying to get to sleep.

He had managed to get through dinner the previous night without letting slip to his parents that the next day was anything overly special- the only indication he was aware of was that he perhaps held his hugs with them before bed slightly longer than normal. He was more than aware of the possibility that he wouldn't be coming back from this particular excursion- nevertheless, he had pledged himself to the cause, and didn't intend to back down now.

The sun was just peeking over the horizon as he made his way out into a shed that served as his least favorite part of the property- this was the area where the animals went when it was time to slaughter them. It was the time of year he loathed the most- a sentiment shared with his father, who performed the act out of necessity, but didn't fail to express his distaste for it at every stage.

Ren fought to keep his hands steady as he reached out and took hold of the bolt gun that they routinely used to put down their animals when the time came. Along with it, he took a bandolier's worth of ammunition, taking only a brief moment to smile at the idea of appearing like a hero in the westerns he'd enjoyed so much growing up. Dean Westwood had been something of an idol of his. In the event of closer-range combat, he added a pair of knives from the kitchen to his arsenal-ideally, he wouldn't have to use them, but his current gun only held one shot at a time. Best to be prepared.

If all went well, this would be the one time he actually enjoyed using this gun to put another creature down.

XXXX

The sun's rays entering her room prompted Pyrrha's eyes to snap open. Like Ren, her night had been less than restful- she could almost feel the bags under her eyes.

Her weapon, she already knew, was far less impressive than the others. Many years ago, her parents had approached her with the wonderful news that she would soon have a younger brother- Achilles Nikos. In their excitement, they had purchased a large, red bunk bed for their children, comprised primarily of metal to hold up the two mattresses.

Things had first gone wrong with the death of her father- a policeman of Mistral, he had been killed in the line of duty. If that weren't bad enough, the grief following his death was a key factor in Jennifer Nikos's later miscarriage- Pyrrha still remembered the shocked horror she'd felt when her mother told her her brother would never be born after all.

In her grief, her mother sought to ensure she never lost her remaining child- perhaps that, Pyrrha thought, had been the origin of the overfeeding leading to her weight problem. The bunk bed, meanwhile, had been fully dismantled and sent to a scrapyard, with the exception of a single bar that Pyrrha had managed to salvage. To this day, it served as her reminder of happier times, before everything had gone so horribly wrong. A simple foot-long length of metal, tapering to a point on either side. She had accidentally cut herself on more than one occasion with it, but her sentimentality kept her from ever truly disposing of it. It was hers, and hers alone.

Now that she was going out to fight, those points would hopefully serve a more practical purpose now.

As she made her way through the house, she jumped at the sound of her mother's voice. "Pyrrha? Where are you going this early?"

Pyrrha turned to see her mother just pulling herself out of bed. She quickly placed the bar she'd been carrying with her against the wall. "Nowhere," she answered, struggling to keep her voice even. "Just... just doing some more urban exploring with my friends."

"Your friends, hmm?" Jennifer asked, smiling slightly- she had been overjoyed to hear that her daughter had met such wonderful comrades. "Where are you going today?"

"We're... we're going to the House on Vickery Lane," Pyrrha admitted, deciding to tell at least _some_ of the truth. "A bit of ghost hunting, you know?"

Jennifer chuckled lightly. "Well, if you find any ghosts, be sure to catch them on tape- maybe we can start our own show."

Pyrrha laughed. "I'll be sure to bring a camcorder."

Jennifer's smile faded. "Be careful, sweety- that house is very old. I don't want you getting hurt, okay?"

"I'll be careful," Pyrrha promised. "My friends will protect me."

"I'm sure they will," Jennifer nodded with a smile. "Well, don't let me keep you- you go enjoy yourself."

Pyrrha nodded before turning to leave, making sure that she had broken her mother's line of sight before she hoisted the bar again and headed downstairs.

XXXX

Nora, as she had predicted, had the least trouble leaving that morning- as soon as she awoke, she checked outside, and saw that there were no cars in the driveway. Her parents had hardly had any time to talk the previous night, either- they had made her a quick dinner before retreating to their room for some sleep before whatever big meeting they had today. She fought herself not to be jealous of whoever they were meeting _with-_ how dare they take her parents from her?!

It didn't take her long to find the hammer she'd taken into the House before. She found herself wishing for a weapon with a longer reach- It was one thing she'd rather not get up close and personal with. But then, she was fighting with her friends, and she wouldn't want to hit one of them and hurt them by accident. If things got really bad, she was sure they'd protect her.

She felt no need to walk quietly as she made her way to the door, where, on a whim, she turned and called out behind her. "I'm heading out, guys! Should be back sometime this afternoon! See you then!"

There was no response. Her smile became rather weaker as she turned back to the front door. "See you then..."

XXXX

For all the crap she gave Weiss over her riches, Blake was hardly poor either, residing, as she did, in a rather large house at the edge of the residential district. It was done in a heavy eastern style, not unlike houses one might find in Anima.

Blake did her best not to be detected as she made her way through the building- she knew her parents would be up, and she didn't want to lie to their faces about what she would be doing today- whether they'd believe the truth or not.

She hadn't made it very far, however, before a door slid open, revealing her father, Ghira Belladonna, on the other side. "Oh, Blake!" he blinked, gazing down at her. "I didn't think you'd be up this early!"

"Well... I woke up, and couldn't get back to sleep," Blake mumbled, struggling not to meet her father's eyes.

Ghira's eyes grew softer as he saw the obvious stress in his daughter's body language. "Blake... is something wrong?"

Blake wanted to laugh- what _wasn't_ wrong? Even if she _could_ tell him, where did she begin? She shook her head. "No... everything's fine."

Ghira nodded, turning back inside and assuming a chair and patting his lap. "Well, why not hop up on my lap and tell your old man just how fine everything is."

Blake hesitated- she could turn and run right now- he probably wouldn't follow. But... this might be the last chance she had. Almost reluctantly, her legs guided her across the room and into her father's lap.

"Your mother and I have noticed, you know," he spoke gently, running his hand through her hair, occasionally rubbing gently around her ears. "You've been... different, ever since summer started."

"Well... you know about my friends, right?"

"Ah, yes... Team Loser, wasn't it?" Ghira asked, smiling at the name.

"Nora's idea, not mine," Blake explained quickly.

"I should have guessed," Ghira chuckled. "What about them?"

"We got a few new members recently- I guess that's one thing that's changed."

"Yes... I heard you were meeting up with that boy from just outside of town... Ren, was it?"

"Ren... Pyrrha... Jaune," Blake nodded. "They're all good people- they don't care about... about..."

"About," Ghira nodded, pausing to scratch lightly at the base of her ears. "Then what's wrong?"

Blake faltered. "Well... the thing is... it's a problem between us. We agreed not to tell anyone else."

Ghira hesitated a moment. "Well... are you sure it's something I can't help with?"

"Yes," Blake nodded. "We have to handle it on our own."

"If you truly feel that way," Ghira relented, though he hardly sounded happy about it. "Is that where you're going today?"

"Yes," Blake nodded again. "We're getting together... and we're going to fix what's wrong."

Ghira took a deep breath, then smiled. "It warms my heart to see that I've raised such a strong young lady. Whatever your problem is, I'm proud of you- proud that you aren't just running away from your problems, but sharing them with your friends and taking them head-on."

"I want to run so much," Blake admitted, on the verge of crying as she pressed her face into her father's shoulder. "So much..."

"And that's normal," Ghira pointed out, returning to running his hand through her hair. "Don't you remember that quote- 'Courage isn't the absence of fear. It's being scared to death but saddling up anyways.'"

"That stupid Don Wayne poster," Blake forced a smile. "It watches me every time I'm in your study, you know."

"I'm still not getting rid of it," Ghira countered. "I refuse to part with a poster of the greatest hero of my generation!"

Blake couldn't help laughing, and Ghira laughed with her.

"Go, then," Ghira smiled, patting her on the back. "Go take care of your problems- whether you want to tell me or not, I'll be with you every step of the way. Maybe when you get back, we can all go to that sushi restaurant you like."

Blake couldn't stop her mouth from watering at the mention of her favorite food. "Promise?" she asked.

"Promise," Ghira nodded. "So, when- oof!"

He broke off when his daughter tackled him in the greatest hug she could muster. "I love you, Dad," she whispered in his ear.

He couldn't stop the warm grin as he returned the embrace. "I love you too, Blake."

XXXX

Weiss panicked momentarily when she awoke to see the sun already well over the horizon- there went her plan of sneaking out before her father could notice.

Her first destination was the gym, of sorts, where she practiced fencing, where she seized a long, white rapier. As Yang had said not too long ago, she had an at least basic understanding of how to use the weapon, though she was facing a handicap in the form of her broken arm. She was just lucky it was her off-hand that had broken. She wasn't confident enough to wield their primary weapon, but neither was she foolish enough to head out unarmed altogether.

The rapier under arm, she made her way down through the massive house, hoping against hope to make it out the front door before-

"Weiss!"

... before that.

She turned reluctantly to see her father descending the stairs of the foyer, just as she was about to open the door. "And where do you think _you're_ going?"

His voice remained calm, but there was a fire in his eyes that let her know that she was walking on thin ice. "Out," she answered, going for the simplest answer she could think of. "I'm going out."

"It's rather early," Jacques pointed out. "Have you done your singing practice?"

Weiss recoiled. "No."

"Piano?"

"No."

"Your assigned readings?"

"No."

Jacques's eyes narrowed. "Then I think it's safe to say you're not going anywhere today."

Without thinking, Weiss continued. "No."

Jacques blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I said no!" Weiss repeated.

"No, what-"

"No, as in I _am_ going out today, and you can't stop me!"

Jacques froze, his gaze turning to a glare. "You don't intend to go out and meet those rapscallions-"

"They're not rapscallions!" Weiss interrupted. "They're my friends- the friends you're trying to separate me from! They need my help today- more than they ever have before- so yes, I'm going out to meet them, whether you like it or not!"

"Weiss, I am your father, and I will not be spoken to like that!" Jacques shot back.

"I am your daughter," Weiss retaliated immediately, "and I won't tolerate being lied to for over a decade!"

"Lied to?" Jacques asked, rage continuing to fuel his voice- but Weiss was certain she spied a bit of fear in his eyes now. "What do you _mean,_ lied to?!"

"Water!" Weiss shouted, reaching into her purse and producing her inhaler for emphasis. "Soda and energy drinks diluted in water! That's all it is- it's all _bullshit!_ "

Jacques looked truly taken aback- almost as much as Weiss felt. This was the first time she'd ever dared use such words, let alone right in front of her father.

Jacques hardly seemed to know what to say in response. "It... it is nothing of the sort! It helps you!"

"No, father," Weiss shook her head. "It helps _you._ The only people trying to help me were my friends- the ones you're trying to drive away. The ones I'm going to right now- and you can't stop me."

She turned and kicked open the front doors. Jacques abandoned all decorum as he sprinted down the stairs, yelling after her. "Weiss! WEISS ARELLA SCHNEE, YOU COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!"

But there was nothing he could do as he watched Weiss sprint down the path leading to the manor, practically hurdle over the front gates, and continue running until she'd disappeared from view altogether.

XXXX

One by one, each of the losers appeared at A Simple Wok. They hardly spoke beyond their initial greetings as they congregated. Only three of them had ridden bikes- Pyrrha, Ren, and Yang. When Weiss arrived- the last to do so- they split up onto the bikes in equal silence. Perhaps there was simply nothing more to say.

As before, Jaune assumed control over Pyrrha's bike, the larger girl sitting right behind him. Nora was far more subdued than usual as she sat right behind Ren, holding onto him tightly as he steered. Bumblebee, the largest bike of them all, was entrusted with carrying Yang, Blake, and Weiss- Yang pedaling, Blake at the rear edge, and Weiss between them, holding onto Yang with her good arm as Blake provided additional support from behind.

Yang took the lead, guiding the others towards Vickery Lane. Eyes grew wide as the houses steadily dissipated, making way for dead grass and deader trees. At long last, the building appeared on the horizon. Just in front of the gates, they all disembarked, the bikers lowering their kickstands before turning to gaze up at the house. Those who had previous experience with it seemed more nervous than the others- Nora and Weiss in particular were breathing rather heavily as they scanned the windows for any traces of pink or brown hair.

"Hey, Weissy," Nora practically whispered. "That asthma stuff doesn't have any actual medicine in it, right?"

"Correct," Weiss agreed, uncomfortable at the reminder.

"So it wouldn't hurt me, right?"

"I suppose not..."

"Mind if I have a puff to clear the old lungs?"

Weiss threw an odd look at her friend, but ultimately sighed before producing her inhaler and allowing Nora to take it.

Nora raised the inhaler to her mouth and took a pull on it. Almost immediately, she removed it, coughing and spluttering. "Ugh! It tastes like shit!"

"Nora," Blake grunted warningly.

"What? It does!" Nora insisted, glowering at the inhaler. "You said it was water, soda, and energy drink- I like all those things! How did they make it taste so bad! What did you say is the most potent kind of Dust?"

Almost against her will, Weiss's mouth was being drawn upwards into a smile. "Omega dust," she answered. She was lying- no one type of dust was any more powerful than any other, just different- but Nora demanded an answer, so she provided.

"Yeah!" Nora nodded emphatically. "It's like trying to inhale omega dust!"

Blake sighed. "Nora, there's no such thing- never mind." She gave up as Nora turned to Ren, completely ignoring her.

"Want a taste?" she asked the calmer boy.

Ren chuckled. "After the glowing praise you heaped on it? Why not?" He accepted the inhaler and took a pull. He took a moment to smack his lips. "It's not _that_ bad."

"Are you kidding me?" Nora asked, aghast. "I almost threw up! And if it tastes the same coming up as it did going down, there's something wrong!"

Pyrrha chuckled. "Perhaps we need an impartial third party. If I may..."

Ren nodded, handing her the inhaler. Pyrrha winced as the taste crossed her tongue. "Well... I can certainly see how one might mistake it for medicine..."

"If _that's_ medicine, then I'm the King of Atlas!" Nora objected. "There are female kings, right? If that's medicine, I'll be the first female King of Atlas!"

"You mean... queen?" Blake suggested.

"What about 'em?"

Blake sighed. "Whatever- just hand it over."

Pyrrha smiled as she handed the inhaler to Blake, who raised it to her lips and pulled. A look of severe distaste crossed her face. "Another reason to hate him, I suppose..."

Jaune reached out and took a pull next. "Not as bad as _Nora_ was saying, though," he smiled. "I know vomit, as I'm sure you remember. That is _not_ vomit."

"W-Well, Vomit Boy's sp-spoken!" Yang chuckled. "Give it h-here."

Jaune obliged, and Yang took a long, deep pull. She coughed as she removed it. "Y-Yeah... no offense, W-Weiss Cream, but your D-Dad's a prick."

"None taken," Weiss shook her head, taking the inhaler back and pulling on it herself. "I happen to agree."

For another moment, they stood there, as though the weight of what they'd done- what they were _about_ to do- set in in full. Finally, Yang asked, "Everyone huh-have their w-w-weapons?"

As she spoke, she produced her gun in one hand, and showed off a brass knuckle on the other. Weiss produced her rapier, Ren his knives and bolt gun, Pyrrha her steel bar, and Nora her hammer. Blake reached up and ran a hand along the chain she had draped over her shoulders, and Jaune brought out the most important weapon of all- the silver knife.

"Alright," Yang nodded. "R-Ren, J-Jaune and I will g-go first, so we c-c-can get c-clear shots on It. We'll h-have... th-three people b-behind us, and s-someone else to w-watch all our b-backs."

"That's my job," Blake volunteered immediately.

Yang blinked. "Alright... N-Nora, Pyrrha, and W-Weiss behind us, and B-Blake in the b-back. You s-see something- _anything-_ d-d-don't keep it to y-y-yourself."

They all nodded, then, in the order prescribed by Yang, made their way up to the House.

The door was still hanging open from Yang and Nora's previous excursion- one by one, they filtered in, before returning to their previous formation. "L-Leave the d-d-door open," Yang ordered. "I d-d-don't know how much _g-g-good_ it'll do-" Memories flashed through her head of the door slamming shut on her and Nora just before they made their escape- "-but d-do it anyways."

Blake nodded. "Because I was _so_ eager to seal off our main means of escape," she commented drily.

"Hey, uh... Yang?" Nora asked, clutching her hammer tighter. "Is it just me, or...is the House bigger than last time?"

The others followed her example, readying their weapons. Indeed, despite looking rather small on the outside, the hallway they now stood in seemed wide enough to belong to Blake's house- though not necessarily Weiss's.

"Well... let's split up, gang," Jaune smiled nervously. "Only joking, only joking!" he clarified quickly when the others turned to glare at him.

"We're not going upstairs again, are we?" Nora asked nervously.

"N-No," Yang agreed. "This time... this time, we're l-l-looking for the b-buh-basement."

"Lovely," Weiss muttered, glancing to her side as she brandished her rapier.

"And where might that be?" Ren asked.

"I d-d-don't know," Yang admitted. "We d-d-didn't see it l-last time."

As they set off deeper into the house, it seemed very much like the building was continuing to expand around them. They made their way into the living room, which seemed practically the size of a combat arena, despite their own ability to traverse it in only a few paces.

The air seemed to constrict around them, and a feeling persisted of being watched. None of them dared break the silence as they turned towards the kitchen, where an antique icebox stood open, proudly showing off a supply of black mold, prompting Weiss to withdraw into the others.

"A door... there's a door."

The others turned to see Ren, his gun at the ready, standing in front of the door he'd pointed out. Jaune reached up to rub his eyes. "Is... is anyone else seeing this?"

"You mean, the door going crazy? Yeah, I see it," Nora nodded.

Nora's description was as good as any other, even if it didn't seem to truly cover what was happening. Every time they looked at the door, it seemed different- for some reason, it seemed to stand up, lay diagonally in the floor, and be a trapdoor, all at the same time. On top of this, it seemed to sporadically tilt from one side to the other. It didn't ever seem to actually be moving- rather, it seemed as though their own perceptions of it were rapidly changing, causing them not to understand what it was they were truly looking at.

"If we open that door... are we gonna _walk_ though, or _fall_ through?" Nora wondered.

"One way to find out," Ren muttered, reaching out- or perhaps down- towards the door.

A loud creaking noise sounded as it drifted open, revealing a set of steps.

"Well... I suppose it wasn't a _trap_ door," Pyrrha commented, her uncertainty clear in her voice.

"Are you sure?" Nora asked. "Are you sure we're not gonna start down there and just be walking on the bottom of the world?"

"The world's still round, Nora," Weiss whispered.

"Photoshop!"

"Shut up, you two!" Blake hissed, fear making her sound harsher than usual. "Who cares? Just get going down the stairs!"

Yang fought back a gulp as she gazed down the steps, descending into what seemed like an infinite darkness. Memories trickled into her mind of Ruby- her fear of the monster in the basement, her hesitation to descend those steps, even up to the day-

She shook her head quickly. Now wasn't the time to think of such things. Now was the time to bring this to an end. Taking the lead again, she set one foot down on the stairs, then the other. One by one, the rest of the team followed.

If they had thought the floor above had grown, it was nothing compared to the basement, which seemed roughly the size of a full colosseum. The floor consisted mostly of dust, and the only light source was a small window on the opposite wall where a scant few rays struggled to pierce the darkness. A cold, empty furnace resided on one wall, while situated near the center of the other wall was a hole descending into the ground, bricks rising around it in a circle to resemble a well.

"Is that...?" Nora asked nervously.

"I believe so," Ren nodded. "There's Its entrance to the sewers."

"I thought someone used to live here," Pyrrha whispered. "How didn't she notice-"

"It's hard to tell," Ren shrugged. "Perhaps she was the one to dig it- maybe she knew something was wrong, and started investigating herself. Or maybe she was like so many others- she simply failed to notice or care about what was right under her nose."

"It d-doesn't m-matter anymore," Yang cut them off. "C-come on."

She led them to the well, indicating a large pully above, ready to lower a lengthy rope down into the darkness beneath. "Help me get this down there..."

Weiss followed the rope with her eyes, locating the source in the basement's corner. She and Nora followed it over and began lifting. "Hey, Pyrrha, give us a hand, would ya?"

As Yang, Ren, and Jaune kept watch over the well, eventually guiding the rope down into it, with the assistance of Weiss, Pyrrha, and Nora on the other end, Blake found herself scanning the basement- she needed no light to see everything that was down here- what little there was. Dust, rope, the well, a shovel or two next to the furnace-

Her heart stopped when she saw something climbing its way out of the furnace- long, discolored fingers with far more joints than any creature should have gently grasped at the edges of the door, before gently beginning to push it open.

She had no interest in seeing what creature those hands belonged to- she let out a scream, drawing everyone else's attention. "It's here!" she called. "Guys- It's down here!"

They all spun towards the furnace, and in that moment, each saw something different- a swarm of flies, the red hood of Krampus, or a large, cruelly sharp scythe...

Until Nora shouted at the top of her lungs, "It's a beowolf!"

Abruptly, all their perceptions snapped together, as out of the furnace poured a large, black wolf-like creature covered in bones and black fur, red eyes full of fury as it bore down on them.

In a second, the basement was filled with noise- Yang's gun went off, landing a couple of shots directly between the beowolf's eyes that hardly seemed to phase it. Ren ducked under its approach and fired a shot from his bolt gun- it, too, seemed to have hardly any effect. The beowolf continued forward, sprinting on all fours towards Weiss, who nervously raised her rapier in preparation- only for a chain to fling out from behind, wrapping around its neck. Behind it, Blake was holding on with everything she had, struggling to pull it away from her friend. The beowolf responded by turning on her, leaping forward- only to recoil when Pyrrha ducked in front of her, holding her bar like a spear. It pierced the beowolf's shoulder, prompting it to pull away, howling in pain- but it seemed more angry than anything else.

Nora leapt forward, slamming her hammer against its skull- it hardly seemed to feel it, but she managed to draw its attention. As she quickly pulled back, Weiss dove forward with her rapier, doing her best to compensate for her useless limb as she drove her sword into the beast's back. Before she'd even noticed, Ren was at her side, dropping his bolt guns in favor of driving both his knives into its shoulderblades. The beowolf flailed around, practically screaming in frustration as it attempted to shake him off, but he held steady as Weiss continued to strike with her rapier.

From here, Jaune seized his chance, leaping forward with the knife and attempting to drive it into the creature's chest.

The beowolf seemed to spy what he was doing, and, contrary to anything they'd expected, pressed further back into Ren's knives, slamming him into a nearby wall, where, at last, he released them and fell to the floor. Weiss was forced to dive out of the way, landing, rather unfortunately, right on her arm- the ensuing pain caused her to scream and release her rapier. The beowolf charged directly at Yang, swatting her away with surprising ease, before immediately bowling through Nora, before finally turning on Jaune. Jaune attempted to turn, preparing to stab again, but the beowolf moved faster, ready to deal a deadly blow with its claws.

"No!" Pyrrha screamed, diving forward and knocking

Jaune out of the way- the claws passed through her stomach like a hot knife through butter, leaving her screaming in pain as she fell to the ground, raising her hands to her belly in an effort to stem the flow of blood.

The beowolf was changing- most of the hair faded away, except for that at its head, which stretched out, taking on an all-too-familiar pink and brown hue. It shrunk, clothing reappearing, eyes growing wider and more human.

Before they knew it, they were once again face to face with Neo.

"You really thought it would be that easy?" she asked, a dark smirk spreading over her face. "You really thought _you_ would be able to dispose of _me?_ I am eternal- I'm the only reason your petty world even _exists!_ Without me, you'd be _nothing!"_

Yang rose up, eyes a bloody red as she prepared her knuckles. "And you took my sister. You'll pay for that!"

She leapt forward, only for Neo to strike her down single handedly, laughing. "And you think killing me will bring her back?" she asked tauntingly. "How do you think you'll find her down in those sewers?"

Yang looked back up, eyes widening. "Sh-sh-sh-she _is_ a-a-alive?"

Neo shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. How do _I_ know where that brat went when she made a run for it? Not that it matters- all that's left-"

She was cut off when a chain once again wrapped its way around her throat- Blake put all her strength into forcing her to her knees. Nora leapt over and joined Blake in her struggle to keep the woman in place. "Jaune, now! Kill It now!" Blake shouted, looking desperately towards the boy.

Jaune hesitated as he turned to face her- the silver knife wasn't too far from his hand. But... she wasn't in beowolf form anymore... it wouldn't do any more good than Ren's knives had earlier. He quailed as the other members of Team Loser joined in Blake and Nora's cries- "Kill It! Kill It! KILL IT!"

Then, his eyes roamed over to Yang, who met his blue eyes with her own red- despite that, however, she seemed surprisingly calm. He knew as soon as their eyes met- she'd seen the same problem he had.

But she didn't care.

She nodded. She didn't speak, but the message was clear. _Jaune... kill that bitch._

A newfound confidence flowed through him- he seized the knife and dove forward towards where Neo was struggling against the chain. He aimed for her head, but she ducked to the side at the last second, with the end result that he left only a small cut on her cheek.

No blood emerged from the wound- instead, an incredibly bright light poured out, a vibrant yellowish-orange, nearly blinding those who looked upon it. Without any conscious thought, they all raised their hands to shield their eyes- which, in Blake and Nora's case, meant releasing the chain that had held Neo to the ground.

Then came the scream- an unearthly screech the likes of which they'd never before heard, utterly alien to any of Remnant's creatures. In their determination not to blind themselves, though, they didn't dare move their hands to cover their ears.

Except for Pyrrha. The sound chilled her just enough for her to relocate her hands to her ears- granting her a brief glimpse of what was happening in the battle's wake. She didn't look directly _at_ Neo- the light was far too blinding for that- but she managed to see a pair of feet sprinting across the short space of the basement.

And... for a brief moment... they changed. For a split second, she caught a glimpse of what she thought must be Its truest form- the one they had yet to witness. Under cover of Its own light, she saw the legs reverting to some more... archaic form. Only a fleeting impression could be shared later- flayed, mottled grey skin, tapering off to a point at one end, moving across the floor almost like a fluid. She hardly understood herself what, exactly, she was seeing, but it was something that haunted her for the remainder of that summer, until she finally left Vale behind.

Then it was gone. The light faded away, and the scream became an echo that eventually faded into a ringing silence.

"The well..." Pyrrha found herself whispering. "It... It went into the well."

Those were all the words she had left before she broke, collapsing into a sobbing heap on the ground. Jaune pulled his way over to her, laying a hand over her back. One by one, the others followed, bundling together much as Yang and Nora had a month or so earlier, letting all their feelings and emotions out on the floor of the House's basement. No words were spoken- no words _needed_ to be spoken.

What they said to each other with their own bodies was enough.

 _XXXX_

Please R&R, constructive criticism and questions embraced, Gamer4 out.


	38. Jaune Arc Leaves Home

Gamer4 in. A couple quick notes before we kick off this story's final act- first off, chapter length is liable to be _incredibly_ variable for the remainder of the tale. From absurdly short to ridiculously long, I have no way of even predicting anymore, so I'm not even gonna try. Here's hoping this doesn't put anyone off. Also, my computer's been having some weird issues lately, primarily surrounding my writing program and internet connectivity, so... we'll see how that goes. Ideally, it won't hold anything up at all, but if it does, at least you're forewarned. Okay, enough of that- let's get back to the story.

Disclaimer: If the days turn dark, and we start to fall, I will pick you up and we will fix it all!

Chapter XXXVII

Jaune Arc Leaves Home

All of Team Loser seemed transfixed by Pyrrha's story from the start all the way to the finish. "It... It escaped into the well... then what?" Nora asked nervously.

"I... we left the House after that... I think..."

"We did," Ren nodded. "After hearing that Ruby might be alive, though, it was rather difficult to pull Yang away."

"I'm remembering more about that day myself," Weiss put in. "That was the day I had my fallout with my father." She paused biting her lip slightly. "I couldn't have gone home after that..."

"You didn't," Ren agreed. "You came to stay at my house for the following week."

" _Your_ house?" Nora asked, interest immediately sparking in her eyes- not necessarily of the most positive variety. "Why _your_ house?"

"I'm g-g-guessing it'd have b-b-been t-too obvious if it w-were one of _our_ h-houses," Yang started.

Jaune nodded in agreement. "And I don't want to _think_ about what Mom would've said if I'd volunteered _our_ place."

"I'm sure _I'd_ have been happy to have you," Pyrrha thought back, "but our house was almost too small for me and my mother alone."

"So I was the only option left," Ren concluded. "Mother and father were quite happy to assist one of my friends in their time of need- though, as I recall, we didn't tell them the _full_ details of what happened."

Yang's gaze returned to the darkened window behind the couch. "W-we managed to h-h-hurt It..."

"We did," Ren nodded. "That was just about the only thing keeping us together after that encounter- we'd inflicted a blow upon It, granting us the confidence that, in time, we might be able to exterminate It altogether."

"Those lights..." Nora shuddered. "I remembered the lights right when you called me... but I didn't want to..."

"It was just light," Weiss put in. "It shouldn't... it shouldn't have had the effect on us that it did... but... I remember the feeling..."

"I think I saw It, back then," Pyrrha suddenly spoke up. "Not the light- I saw _through_ the light. I think... I think I saw what It really looked like."

Yang's head snapped up. "W-well? D-don't hold back- sh-share it with the c-c-class!"

Pyrrha shook her head hopelessly. "It was just a quick glimpse. There was skin of some sort- I think. It looked... burned? Flayed? I don't know how to describe it... I'm not even sure what I was looking at. A limb? The waist? Then I end up wondering if Its true form even _has_ any of those things, and I just... I don't _know!_ "

She lowered her face into her hands as Jaune placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's alright," he muttered. "No one expects you to remember something like that perfectly."

Ren nodded before clearing his throat. "I believe that is as good a place as any to leave off for tonight."

" _N-now?_ " Yang objected. "We c-c-can't! Th-that can't be th-the end!"

"It's not," Ren nodded in confirmation as he rose to his feet and stretched out his limbs, with many a snap, crackle and pop. "We're coming up on the end, but for now, I think it's best to get some rest. Haven't you noticed the time?"

He pointed to a lone clock sticking out of a nearby wall- a wall that seemed to be rotting away and decaying. The conditions of the library had grown even worse during Pyrrha's story and their discussion afterwards- they just refused to acknowledge it anymore.

As such, the only thing they dared take from that wall was the time shown on the clock. "Half past three?!" Weiss asked in surprise. "We got here at ten, didn't we?"

"I guess time really _does_ fly when you're having fun," Pyrrha shrugged with a weak half-smile.

"St-still," Yang continued, "if w-we're s-s-so close to the end, wh-why not g-get it out of the w-way _now?_ "

Ren was on the point of answering when the clock abruptly began chiming- despite the clear lack of any bell.

A familiar, cackling voice seemed to ring throughout the building. "Good ol' soul's midnight!" it chuckled. "The time the Devil has sway!"

Reality seemed to shatter as a gigantic storm began raging within the library- books flew off of shelves one by one, a heavy wind buffeted them around, and a heavy rain began to fall, practically moving horizontally.

"H-h-hands together!" Yang called, and the others quickly nodded, leaping to their feet and holding onto each other as if for dear life.

The computers had all lit up, and words were beginning to crawl down them as if someone were typing them out faster than any human would ever be capable of. Various printers were churning out sheaves of paper with the same words upon them, only to get caught up in the high wind. The blood on the walls was running down, seemingly made fresh by the rain impacting it.

Team Loser closed their eyes, willing it to stop...

And it did. As they slowly opened their eyes, they saw the library back to perfectly normal order- no rain or wind, the books returned neatly to the shelves, no blood on the walls- even the lights above had returned to their original brightness. The only remaining signs that anything odd had happened at all were the words on the computer, a few papers retaining that same text, and the dampness on all their clothes.

"Okay," Nora spoke up. "I'll be the first to say it- I'm willing to listen to what _anyone_ has to say, as long as they say it somewhere that's _not here!_ "

Pyrrha nodded in agreement. "Rarely have I found a library to be so... unappealing."

Jaune gave a grunt of agreement himself as he crossed a short space to one of the papers. "Don't know _why_ we care what messages she's trying to send us..."

He quirked a brow in confusion as he looked at the paper. "I... don't get it."

Yang and Ren were the closest to him, and got their glimpses of the paper first. Immediately upon seeing it, Yang recoiled as though the words disgusted her beyond belief- she pulled back towards the shelves, breathing surprisingly heavily.

Ren, meanwhile, sighed, and read the words aloud. "'Hotter than the sun in the middle of July, I burn.'"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jaune asked.

Yang answered. "It's my mah... it's my mah..."

Weiss approached her, pulling out her inhaler. "I know it's just water, but it helps me..."

Yang nodded, accepting the inhaler and taking a pull.

"It's m-m-my m-m-mantra... it h-h-helps m-me g-g-get m-my st-st-stutter under c-c-control..."

She closed her eyes as she spoke, and opened them to find Nora leaning directly into her face, turquoise eyes aglow. "Well, sorry to tell you, Yangey, but it's not working out too well."

Yang was on the verge of breaking down already, but the light kissing face Nora made afterwards- followed by a pop of her lips- sealed the deal- she fell to the ground laughing.

The laughter seemed infectious- soon, all the rest had joined in.

At long last, Nora helped Yang back to her feet. "Come on- let's get outta here."

As he led them out the doors, Ren announced, "I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of booking us all rooms at the Austin Hotel- it seemed like the best place to stay the night together."

"I _d-d-did_ wonder wh-why they s-said there was n-n-no need to puh-pay," Yang reflected.

"Dust, Ren, how much money did you _spend_ on us?" Weiss asked.

Ren chuckled. "I thought you, of all people, would appreciate the rudeness of that question, Ms. Schnee." Weiss turned red, prompting another light laugh from Ren. "It doesn't matter- I've been working towards this for twenty-seven years. Believe me, this is nothing."

Jaune coughed. "So... what now?"

"Well, I'd presume we'd make our way towards the hotel," Pyrrha pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but... don't you guys need to go back to _your_ hotels and get whatever you left there?" Jaune countered.

Nora blinked. "Ohh... riiiiggghhht. That. I left some pretty important stuff back at _my_ hotel."

"I suppose that won't be a problem for Yang- it sounds like she's already set up," Weiss noted. "But what about you, Jaune?"

Jaune blushed. "Well... the thing about that is... I didn't really... take much with me in the first place."

 _Because of Emerald._

The unspoken phrase seemed to hang in the air, once more prompting dark thoughts in his friends- primarily expressed by Yang's fists returning to clenching and unclenching.

"Very well," Ren finally spoke up. "It seems this would be the most efficient way- Yang and Jaune can head directly to the hotel. Pyrrha, Weiss and Nora can head to their hotels and pick up their things- separately or together, I'll leave that choice to you."

"Then where are _you_ going, Renny?" Nora asked, concern filling her turquoise eyes.

"I have a few things I left at home earlier," Ren explained. "I'll stop by and pick them up before heading to the hotel myself."

"Are you sure you're comfortable being on your own for that long?" Weiss raised a single eyebrow.

Ren nodded. "Believe me, I feel more comfortable in my home than anywhere else- as long as I'm alone, it's the safest place in the town."

He reached into a pocket and produced several sheets of paper before handing them out. "Here are your rooms- again, my apologies if you find it... intrusive, but I thought it best to draw up our plans ahead of time."

"Y-you r-really thought this all out, d-didn't you?" Yang asked. "Hmm... why these n-n-numbers?"

"They must seem arbitrary to you," Ren acknowledged. "But that's only because they are. Those were the only rooms available on the sixth floor- which, in itself, was the only floor with that many rooms available. I assumed you'd all like to be on the same floor."

"D-damn straight," Yang agreed. "Still..."

The paper ran something like this:

 _Yang Xiao Long- Room 613_

 _Jaune Arc- Room 615_

 _Nora Valkyrie- Room 614_

 _Weiss Schnee- Room 620_

 _Lie Ren- Room 625_

 _Pyrrha Nikos- Room 621_

The team's chest tightened when they gazed at the bottom of the paper, where a room number was laid out for Blake Belladonna as well- a room that she would never occupy.

Nevertheless, they decided to skirt around the elephant in the room, instead turning their attention to their assignments. "Well, I guess we ought to get going, then!" Nora shrugged. "Come on, Weissy! Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha looked back at Jaune momentarily. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to come with us, you two?"

"S-sorry g-guys, but after t-today, I j-just want to c-c-crash," Yang admitted. _Dust,_ how long had it been since she'd seen Neo squatting over those graves? Less than twenty-four hours? It seemed like years.

"Crashing sounds good right about now, yeah," Jaune agreed, kicking at the ground almost guiltily.

"In that case," Ren suggested, "I'll see you all in the morning. Perhaps then, we'll finally have time to remember everything else."

"That's right!" Nora nodded brightly, putting her hand out. "Who are we? 1, 2, 3, Team Loser!"

She looked eagerly around to see expressions ranging from exasperation to mild amusement. "Let's get going, Nora," Weiss sighed before setting off. Pyrrha threw one last regretful look behind her before following, Nora skipping along at her side.

Ren turned back to Yang one last time. "Sorry to cut our meeting short," he repeated. "It's just... there are some things you can't take all at once. I promise we'll finish tomorrow."

"W-we'd better," Yang nodded. "St-stay safe, Ren."

Ren nodded before turning and setting off in another direction.

Jaune coughed nervously. "So... where's the Austin Hotel again?"

XXXX

As they set off towards the hotel, Yang couldn't help but notice that her traveling companion for the night seemed a little down. "S-Something up, Jaune?"

"Only the sky," the boy responded with a weak smile.

Yang obliged him with a laugh. "L-leave the j-jokes to me, Vomit B-Boy." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Or... I s-suppose I sh-should be calling you V-Vomit _Man_ now."

It was Jaune's turn to chuckle. "Sounds like the lamest superhero ever."

"It's vuh-very... you," Yang smirked.

Jaune shrugged and returned his eyes to the sidewalk. Yang allowed her mirth to leave her eyes. "S-seriously, Jaune... wh-what's wrong?"

"I..." Jaune scratched at the back of his head. "I lied, Yang... I still remember something else. Something I didn't want to talk about in front of everyone..."

"What? Why n-not?" Yang immediately went into high alert.

Jaune raised his hands in surrender. "Nothing to do with It!" he assured her. "Nothing like that... just something from... from my own personal time in Vale... and now I don't know _what_ to think."

Assured that Jaune wasn't holding out on her, Yang placed a comforting arm over his shoulder. "W-well, then... tell m-m-me. Momma Yang's h-here to l-l-listen."

Jaune seemed to shrink away. "Momma... that's a word that doesn't mean quite what it should to me... and I just remembered why."

"Why?" Yang prompted. "I kn-know she was r-really c-c-controlling, b-but-"

"There's more to it than that," Jaune sighed. "It... if I remember right, it was a week after our excursion. I was just getting ready to

CCCC

head out and meet with the rest of his team again. After their near brush with death of a week or so ago, they had taken time to rest, regroup, and begin laying down new plans for another excursion. He wouldn't pretend to be overly enthusiastic about it, but there was a firm understanding between them- what they were doing needed to be done- and they were the only ones prepared to do it.

According to Yang, they were to meet up at the clubhouse today, just after noon. Looking out the window of his bedroom, he saw that the sun was getting pretty high in the sky. May as well head out now.

He first opened up his shirt drawer, from which he produced the chess piece Nora had given him what seemed like months ago now- though it could only have been a week or two at the most. He smiled- it made him so happy to finally have somewhere to belong, even if it did come with this price.

He then reached down under his bed and pulled out the silver knife- he'd hardly parted with it since that day. Sure, he hadn't managed to _kill_ It, but just the fact that the knife was able to wound It and send it running was enough for him. He moved to his dresser, mind wandering as he pulled his usual jeans, t-shirt and hoody on. He fastened his belt, tucking the knife underneath, and turned towards the door.

He tiptoed down the hallway, not wanting to wake his mother, if she was still asleep- the less she knew about his excursions, the better. To his relief, he didn't encounter her all through the house- it seemed she had already left to go to work.

At long last, he reached the front door and moved to open it.

It didn't open.

"Huh?" he grunted in confusion.

A second glance made it very clear what the problem was- he just hadn't seen it in his eagerness to get out. A large padlock had been placed on the door, barring access to it. He tilted his head in confusion, not recognizing the lock or the mechanism that allowed it to hold the door shut.

"And just where do you think _you're_ going, sweety?" came a voice from behind him, dripping like poisoned honey.

He froze, turning what felt like a single degree every minute, until he finally saw his mother, sitting in an armchair across from the door. Her legs and arms were both crossed, and despite the softness in her voice, her eyes held an odd mix of ice and fire.

Jaune fought back a gulp. "Just... out," he whispered back.

"Out," Jane repeated, her eyes narrowing. "Just going out into Vale, are you, my boy?"

Jaune nodded nervously. "Ren told me about a new book series, so I thought I'd head to the library and check it out."

" _Ren_ told you about it, did he?" Jane asked, more and more venom steadily seeping into her voice. "It was _Ren,_ was it?"

"Of course," Jaune nodded. "Who... who else would it be?"

"I thought the faunus girl was more of a reader, to be honest..."

Jaune's heart leapt into his throat. He could feel the sweat on his forehead as he attempted to play it off. "Faunus girl? I don't know any faunus at all- I don't know what you're-"

"STOP LYING TO ME!"

Jaune flinched as his mother burst to her feet, seeming to tower over him despite only standing an inch or two taller. The ice was gone- she seemed to be trying to scorch him with her eyes. "I know what you've been doing, my boy," she growled, seemingly trying to return to her calm tone, but struggling to do so. "I know that you've been spending time down in the Emerald Forest with those girls. What have you been doing to them, Jaune?"

"I... I don't know what you're-"

"The faunus girl... that heiress... those two wild _creatures_ from Beacon High School... and a girl wider than she is tall. Are you going to tell me they don't sound familiar?"

A dark, nagging suspicion came to Jaune's mind. He didn't want to think it, but he had to ask- "Mom, who told you-"

"It doesn't matter," Jane shook her head.

"It might!" Jaune asked desperately. "Please, who told you? Was it a woman? A woman with pink and brown hair?"

"It _isn't important,_ " Jane repeated, reaching out and grabbing his hand, raising it up and beginning to run her thumb over it with surprising gentleness. "I hoped you'd be different, Jaune... just because you _are_ a boy doesn't mean you need to _act_ like one..."

Jaune flinched away, part of him wanting to cry. How was he supposed to stand up to his mother, who did everything for him?

Jane continued. "I know what goes through girls' minds when they look at you, Jauney. I know it _all too well._ For you to take advantage of that, to _manipulate_ them..."

"I haven't!" Jaune objected. "They're just friends!"

"Just friends... who would send you something like this?"

Jaune's heart seemed to stop beating altogether. His mother had reached into a pocket and produced a postcard- a very familiar postcard.

 _Kind, crystal blue eyes_

 _Hide a heart as pure as gold_

 _My heart longs to join_

"Mom, that's nothing," Jaune struggled to reason with her. "It's just a postcard-"

"A postcard... with a poem... that I found in your underwear drawer," Jane hissed, her grip tightening on his hand. Jaune wanted to gasp with pain. "Jaune... are you still _my boy?_ "

 _No._

 _But..._

No.

 _But how can I-_

 _NO!_

"No," Jaune whispered.

Jane seemed to pale, and her face was more consumed with rage than before. "What did you just say to me?"

"I said NO!" Jaune yelled, pulling away and darting into the nearby kitchen.

Jane followed almost immediately, grabbing his arms and forcing him to the ground. Jaune was horrified- of all the things his mother had done or been willing to do in the past, this was beyond the pale. She fought with her legs to separate his, breathing heavily. Jaune flailed around, reaching for anything he could use as a weapon, eventually seizing a chair by the leg and pulling it over to land on his mother, who let out a shout of pain before pulling away, giving him the chance to jump to his feet.

He had to run- but where? It was likely the other doors were locked as well.

There was another room in the house with a lock- it was a longshot, but if he could escape into that room...

He dashed into the hallway and up a short flight of stairs, the sounds of his mother struggling on the floor ringing in his ears. He bolted into the bathroom and quickly locked it as tight as he could.

Jane wasn't far behind- she finally got to her feet and bolted up the stairs after her son. She slowed as she approached the bathroom door, reaching out, taking the handle, and attempting to open it.

Just as she'd thought, it was locked. "Jaune?" she called out softly. "Jaune, are you okay in there? I'm sorry, it was just a bout of madness, it won't happen again."

No answer.

"Jauney, you know I'd never want to hurt you, don't you? I just worry about you... I worry a lot. Please, let me in, and we can talk all this out."

Her eyes narrowed as the door remained shut, the room behind silent. "Fine... if that's how you want it..."

She turned around and set off down the hallway a few paces before turning around again and dashing at the door, kicking it open with all her strength.

The room was empty.

That made no sense- it was on the second floor, and the window was too small for her boy to climb out of at any rate.

But the curtains on the shower were pulled...

She crossed the room in a few quick paces before slowly reaching out and pulling the shower curtains open-

*WHAM!*

Jaune couldn't stop a gasp from going through his body as he smashed the lid to back of the toilet across his mother's head. The hefty porcelain broke in half, one half clattering to the floor, the other remaining in his hand. His mother crumpled to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut, blood oozing out of her head.

Jaune fell to his knees, sobbing, dropping the other half to the ground. How could he live with himself after this? After what he'd just done to his own mother... what could he do?

"Jaune..."

His eyes flew open, and he saw his mother, against all odds, raising her head again. There was something odd about it this time, though- something inhuman.

"I worry about you, Jaune... I worry a _lot..._ "

For the briefest of moments, he could have sworn that his mother's eyes changed color, from their normal crystal blue to a bright pink and deep brown.

A yelp of fear passed through his lips. He reached out and picked up a portion of the shattered lid before sprinting out of the room, darting down the stairs as fast as he could, the sound of his mother rising to her feet haunting him all the way.

"Jaune... get back here!"

He ran to the front door and slammed the lid down on the lock. Once... twice... thrice... the lock broke open, and he practically kicked down the door before bolting out into the street.

He glanced behind him, though didn't dare stop running. He was right to do so- his mother was chasing after him with more animosity than he'd ever seen on Blake's face. Rage filled every line on her face- it almost seemed like she'd get down on all fours at any moment.

Jaune continued his sprint, desperate for an escape of any kind. He weaved through houses and down alleys, but whatever power had granted his mother the ability to rise up again after that knock to her head seemed to have also increased her speed and stamina- she remained hot on his tail the whole time.

A truly odd thing happened that day, though, preoccupied as he was, Jaune didn't even think about it until much later. Despite the noise and the very obvious spectacle he and his mother were making, sprinting down street after street, road after road, alley after alley, hardly anybody seemed to acknowledge them at all. Pedestrians walked by, not paying any mind to the madwoman with blood running down her face chasing a blond boy with clear terror in his face- in the most extreme cases, they simply blinked and quirked a brow before turning and continuing along with their day. Nobody moved to block or assist either party- they just... moved along.

Only one person actually seemed to see what was happening that day- a young child in the residential district, playing in his front yard. The boy's name was Dexter Grif, and he was a mere six years old at the time. When Jaune and his mother went sprinting past his yard, he looked up, caught a single glance, and spent the rest of the day crying, inconsolable despite his mother's efforts to find out what was wrong. He had no way of explaining what he'd seen, nor why it affected him the way it did. It was something that followed him for years to come, primarily in the form of night terrors in which he relived the vision of the boy being chased by a woman, except the woman was replaced by a horrifying creature that he could never describe upon being awakened.

Twenty-seven years later, Dexter Grif had joined the army, rising up to the rank of sergeant, finally forgetting all about the incident... until one night in mid-November, when he was abruptly awoken by the old nightmare once again, screaming as though he were still a child.

Unknown to him, practically on the other side of the world, Roman Torchwick had just fallen into the Haven River, and was being sized up by a small woman with large teeth.

XXXX

Jaune continued his sprint, very much aware of how tiring the run was becoming- he wasn't going to be able to keep this up all day. He had to escape her somehow. He hurtled down one alley, spying a truck that was pulling into it. Without missing a beat, he took what seemed like the only chance he had- he ducked and slid beneath the vehicle, continuing even then to crawl his way beneath it, heedless to the rancid stench surrounding him- clinging to him. He had more important things to worry about.

"JAUNE!" came his mother's shriek. "Jaune, you get back here _now!_ "

He ignored her, continuing to climb on. Only when he had finally achieved the other side did he dare glance back- his mother didn't seem to dare follow him beneath the truck, instead looking for ways to go around. He didn't hesitate to turn and run down the sidewalk a little more before ducking into a nearby shop.

Immediately, the warm, homey smell of coffee surrounded him. A young woman peered over a nearby counter at him. "Good morning, sir. How many will be-"

"Do you have a bathroom?" he asked desperately.

The woman blinked. "Oh, uh... in the back?"

He nodded his thanks before dashing through the café, heedless to the odd stares he was getting- though, as was the trend that day, nobody bothered to stand and intercept him.

He spied the restrooms, and immediately ducked into the men's, dashing into the stall at the far end, locking it, and hopping up onto the toilet in an effort to hide his feet.

For several long moments, he took deep breaths, silently as he could manage. He closed his eyes, desperately praying to any god that was willing to listen that his mother didn't find him here.

One minute passed.

Two.

Four.

Ten.

At long last, he slowly lowered his feet back to the linoleum tiling, reaching out to undo the lock on the stall. He moved slowly, stealthily across the remainder of the bathroom. He opened the door a crack, peering out to either side.

There was no sign of his mother anywhere.

He made his way back through the restaurant, spying the woman he'd talked to upon first entering. "Thanks," he forced a smile. "I... really had to go."

"My... pleasure?" the woman nodded respectfully, if confusedly, as she bowed him out.

He continued to tread carefully on the outside, very conscious that his mother could be behind practically any corner- assuming that anything of his mother was even _left,_ of course. What could he do now? Going home was off the table, that much was certain. He had to get out of town, away from the places his mother would likely be looking for him...

The clubhouse. Of course. Nobody knew about the clubhouse except for Team Loser- he'd be safe there.

 _And we're already meeting up there today..._

Warmth washed over him as he reached into his pocket and grabbed hold of his chess piece. Somehow, he understood now- being with the others was safety. As long as they were together, nothing could stand against them- not Weiss's father, not his mother, not Team CRDL, not even It.

 _Yang will be there..._

The warmth spread to his chest. Of course. Yang was the one with the plans, the beacon of hope that burned bright at the center of the team. If anyone would know what to do, she would.

His course set, he began making his way towards the Emerald Forest.

In his haste to escape, and focus on any obvious signs that his mother was following, he missed out the subtler signs that someone younger was tailing him now- a tall boy with red hair done up in what wanted to be a pompadour, two cronies at his side, and a knife in his pocket.

Jaune had practically made it to the Emerald Forest when he felt it. There were no obvious signs that he could tell, prompting the hair on the back of his neck to stand on end. No, it was something... older? More base? More... instinctual? He couldn't describe it, but there was no doubt in his mind what this feeling was- the overwhelming feeling of


	39. Lie Ren Makes a Call (A)

AAAA

being watched.

Ren glanced behind him, gazing down the dark streets behind him, searching intently for whatever entity was causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end. Despite his best efforts, however, he could see nothing out of the ordinary- just the usual rows of neat houses, concealed by shadows broken by the occasional beam of an over-arching streetlamp.

He narrowed his eyes, uncertain what, exactly, he was looking for. A hulking shape in a white mask with frizzy hair? A horrifically scarred children's doll? Perhaps something more otherworldly than that- a tall being without a face, or some sort of creature on all fours with claws like scythes?

He saw none of the above, but tightened his grip on the pistol in his pocket nonetheless- it didn't do to be complacent in Vale, especially not this time, every twenty-seven years.

Perhaps he shouldn't be surprised, he decided as he turned back towards his house. If there was anything he'd discovered during his near three decades of watching over this town, it was that it was rare to _not_ feel watched, to some extent. Some part of him remembered what Yang had said, all those years ago- _It_ is _Vale._ If so, then perhaps it was the town itself watching every move he made, even when It was supposed to be asleep. The thought chilled him, and he quickly shook it off.

At last, he approached his front door, and began fumbling in his pockets for the key. He turned around before entering, throwing one last raking gaze from one dark street to the other, searching for anything out of place.

Nothing.

He turned inside and shut the door. For a moment, he debated the merits of locking it. Ultimately, he decided against it- any intruders he was actually worried about would not be hindered by a simple bolt, but unlocking the door might take up precious time if _he_ needed a quick getaway.

Almost on a whim, he moved into his kitchen, grabbing a teapot off a high shelf and filling it with water before placing it on the stove. It should be hot enough by the time he had everything he needed, and a quick cup of tea certainly wouldn't hurt right now. That done, he turned upstairs and began making his way through his room, searching through one shelf in particular.

At last, he found what he was looking for- his most prized possession, kept safe in the back of an unassuming shelf, behind several nondescript books. He pulled it out and gazed at it momentarily.

It was a beautiful box, handcrafted by him from a cherry tree. The wood was polished to a mirror shine, with the exception of several images gently carved into the surface- around the edges were symbols from practically every religion practiced on Remnant- the symbol of Yin and Yang, a cross, a crescent, a six-pointed star, and even the image of the two brothers, despite that being one of his less favorite creation stories. In pride of place, however, were a carefully sculpted cane and a pair of glasses, often associated more with coffee nowadays than what he found them to truly represent.

On the lid, meanwhile, was a stunning relief, delicately carved to resemble himself and each of his six friends from that summer, all posing as if for a picture. He'd had to work on memory, but was ultimately proud with the result. Finally, the latches and hinges that held the box shut were crafted from fragments of pure silver. He had taken absolutely no chances with Neo getting hold of this container and its contents.

He tucked the box away into one of his pockets, and turned towards the journal he had shelved earlier- less twenty-four hours ago, as difficult as it was to believe. He removed it, debating whether to take it with him to the hotel. Much like with the lock on the door, he decided against- anything this book had to teach, he was rather certain the others already knew. All that was left was their final excursion.

The thought weighed on him as he took the book back downstairs, taking a seat in his chair to read for a moment as he waited for his water to finish boiling. It was amazing, what his friends had already remembered- but what they hadn't was far more interesting. He wouldn't deny feeling somewhat guilty and evading Yang's question about 'Old Man Stick-in-the-Mud,' but of everything that happened that summer, that was the one thing he'd been the most nervous about telling. It was the most key factor in his decision to take it slowly- and, if he was correct, it was closely tied to the reason Blake had taken her own life. Perhaps she had remembered too much, too fast. If the others had, would they have turned up at all? Or would they have followed the same path she did?

He shook his head. There was no point fretting over that- they were here now, after all. As soon as his tea finished, he'd be going to meet them at the hotel. If he was to worry about anything, he should be worrying about what Neo had allegedly told Yang. Could it be true? Would they honestly not be receiving anymore help from 'Old Man Stick-in-the-Mud?'

Could Ozpin truly be dead?

He sighed, returning his journal to the counter in front of him. There wasn't much point worrying about that, either. They'd already committed, and they'd be laying out their plans for the final descent soon enough. He had hardhats and flashlights in his closet, and a nice selection of weapons he planned on taking with him. Ozpin or no Ozpin, this would be their last stand.

Or perhaps planning was ultimately in vain itself. They'd tried to lay out plans beforehand last time, hadn't they? All their meticulous schemes and plots, all of which had gone down the toilet one day when Team CRDL found them and chased them into the sewers. Perhaps something similar would happen this time, and they'd be left with nothing but their wits and their faith.

*Click.*

Ren's head snapped up- that was the sound of his door opening. How? His house was intended to be secure from Neo and her influence, and she didn't need to open doors in any case!

A regular burglar, perhaps? He almost hoped so- he'd be happy to give them whatever they wanted, with the exception of the box in his pocket. If they tried to take that, there would be a fight.

He rose to his feet and moved silently into the kitchen, grabbing a pair of knives and stowing them up his sleeves before returning to the living room, where he saw the intruder- an incredibly old man, sixty to seventy, going by his hair. He was hunched over the table, poring over the journal. Ren slowly reached into his pocket and produced the gun, clicking it loudly to draw the man's attention. "I don't want any trouble," he spoke softly, announcing his presence. "Just raise your hands, walk out, and we can forget any of this ever happened."

The man raised his hands, before slowly turning around, causing Ren to gasp.

He'd misjudged the man's age, as his hair, stance, and the lines and spots all over his face seemed to indicate someone far older than the mid-forties that Ren knew this man to be. He stood tall as he glowered right back at Ren with a pair of cold indigo eyes- and for the first time, he noticed a large, bladed mace hanging from one hand.

"Cardin?"

"Long time, no see, chink," the man croaked, slowly raising his mace and slapping its handle against his other hand, very clearly eager to use it. "Thrown any rocks lately?"

Ren's eyes widened as he took in every detail of Cardin's haggard appearance. "Holy Dust, what _happened_ to you?"

"Twenty-seven years in the loony bin!" Cardin yelled, smashing at the table with the mace for emphasis. The table crashed to the floor in pieces. "Twenty-seven years being watched over by that hulk hopped up on steroids and that quack of a doctor, that's what! Do you have any _idea_ what they did to me while you and your friends were yucking it up out here?!"

He raised a hand, and for a moment, Ren thought he was being shown an obscene hand gesture- until he realized Cardin was showing off the back of his hand, where a rather nasty scar resided, as though he'd been crucified.

"Who- who did that?" Ren asked, struggling to keep Cardin calm.

"Hazel!" Cardin shouted back. "Hazel FUCKING Rainart! He tortured me for twenty _fucking_ years! Where were you then, huh? Where were you when they were torturing me for something I didn't do?! When I was telling them about the man in the mask, where was Vale's golden boy? WHERE WERE YOU?!"

Ren raised his hands. "I don't want to fight, Cardin. I thought you were catatonic- I thought they might be able to help you. Now I see that clearly wasn't the case-"

"Clearly!" Cardin nodded rapidly. "CLEARLY, is it? What's your plan now, then? Throw some more rocks? Pin some more murders on me, and send me right back to Graham's?!"

"Not to Graham's," Ren shook his head appeasingly. "Of course not- I wouldn't do that to you, knowing what they did. But you clearly need help- I can help you find it-"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Cardin pulled back, a dark smirk forming over his face. "I've already got all the help I'll ever need."

Ren's blood ran cold. "Cardin... don't tell me... you've been talking to It, haven't you?"

"So what if I have?" Cardin retorted, confirming Ren's worst suspicions. "She broke me out, didn't she? She's already done more for me than you and your faggot friends ever did!"

"No, she hasn't," Ren shook his head again. "Cardin... Neo doesn't care for you. It only cares for itself."

"You don't know a _goddamn_ thing you're talking about," Cardin snarled. "She broke me out of there, she _killed_ the ones who were hurting me. All she wants in return is you bastards' heads!"

"And then she'll come for you, too!" Ren volleyed back, practically yelling himself. "Cardin, she's just trying to tie up all her loose ends! For now, that means convincing you to kill us, but once we're gone, you'll just be another one- she'll come after you too!"

"NO!" Cardin yelled, shaking his head like a dog. "She promised! If I kill you, I can walk away from all this! She promised!"

Ren steadily lowered his gun onto the nearby counter, approaching slowly towards the sobbing Cardin. "... She lied. After all, even the Devil will speak in scripture if it suits his own ends."

Cardin looked back up, fire in his eyes. "I always hated those flip-flops you liked giving out..."

He raised his mace and swung wildly. Ren leapt backwards, narrowly avoiding the tip. "Cardin, stop! I can help you!" he called out.

"Help _me?_ " Cardin gave a very forced laugh as he continued advancing, swinging his mace without regard to what he smashed. Ren picked up the gun again, but didn't dare fire it yet. "You can't even help _yourself!_ "

"We're going to kill It, Cardin! Me and all the others- we're going into the sewers tomorrow, and we're going to kill It!"

" _God_ couldn't kill It- what makes you think _you_ can?!"

*SMASH!*

Ren threw a look around, searching for any other weapons, until his eyes landed on the teapot he'd just filled with boiling water. He hated to see it go, but he _needed_ to get out of this alive. He grabbed it and threw it at Cardin's face with all his might.

It smashed over his head, causing him to scream as the boiling water splashed all over his face. He fell to the ground momentarily, causing more pain as he landed on the shards of the teapot.

Ren seized his chance, kicking the mace out of Cardin's reach and slamming his knee into his chest, remaining there, pinning him down.

He stopped.

Cardin glowered up at him. "Why don't you just finish me off, Chink? You had no problems fighting unfairly before..."

Ren entertained the idea of killing him- he really did. All the usual reasons for not doing so entered his head, only to be dismissed one by one.

Only one reason stuck, and it was the reason he gave.

"If I killed you... I'd be doing Its work, same as you. And that's not something I'll ever do."

There was a flash of light, and he looked up to see a face on the television in the next room over. It seemed like a normal news broadcast, except the speaker was Blake Belladonna, smiling in a way the true Blake had never smiled before. Her eye sockets were empty, and the slashes on her wrists that had ultimately claimed her life were shown off proudly, a seemingly infinite amount of blood continuing to leak out as he stared.

Her voice was more normal this time- adult Blake, adult voice- but it seemed to be echoing down endless dark halls and catacombs to reach them.

"And in today's news, a local Chink was found dead in his house. Sources say he _could_ have escaped, except he valued the life of an old bully over that of his friends! What a guy, huh? Drives one friend to suicide then leaves the others to be killed 'cause he was afraid to get his hands dirty. That's the Ren _I_ remember, alright!"

Ren shook his head, struggling not to listen.

But Cardin didn't. His eyes were on the television as well, growing wider with each passing moment.

"Cardin, _no,"_ Ren raised his voice. "Don't listen- whatever you're seeing, it's not real! Just another trick!"

"He's going to keep coming after you, Chink," Blake smirked. "He won't stop. He'll never stop. And when you're dead, he'll go after your friends, too! Unless you _want_ them all to follow me into the deadlights, you'd best kill him now! What's the matter? You had no _problem_ doing it to me!"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up! You're not real!"

He had faltered long enough- Cardin jumped on his chance to punch Ren in the face, sending him back just enough to rise to his feet and grab his mace again, continuing his swinging as Blake's laughter rang in Ren's ears.

Ren attempted to get to his feet as well, before Cardin's mace finally met its mark- one particularly wild swing landed in Ren's leg.

Ren couldn't help the scream that escaped his mouth as he collapsed to the ground, the blade of the mace still lodged there. A nasty wound was now pouring blood out, and the nasty crack he'd heard informed him that his leg was broken as well.

With a horrific tearing noise, Cardin wrenched the mace free and made to swing again. In a last-ditch effort, Ren slid the knives out of his sleeves and slashed forward, leaving a long gash in Cardin's chest before the mace landed.

It was Cardin's turn to scream as a flower of blood bloomed on his chest, raking from side to side. He made to swing again, this time finding his progress impeded by the gun that Ren finally saw fit to use, firing one, two, three, four shots into the chest he'd just damaged.

Cardin pulled back with each shot, until he finally crashed through the glass door behind him, landing out on the lawn. With one last final cry, he turned, seemingly quite unaffected by the shots he'd taken, and tore off back into the night.

Ren grunted in pain as he gazed down at his leg. Experimentally, he attempted to move his foot. Nothing happened.

He had to stay calm. His semblance kicked in, not stopping the pain, per se, but allowing him to take it as much in stride as anything else. He had to think clearly- what was the best way to get out of this situation alive?

As quickly as he could given the circumstances, he tore the sleeves from his robe, fastening them as tightly as he could around his leg, doing his best to cut off the blood flow to that particular limb. Still, he was already growing dizzy from blood loss.

What was next? His scroll- yes, his scroll. He fumbled around in his pockets for the device before finally producing it. It was difficult to work with his blood-soaked hands, but he finally brought up the dial pad and put in the only number that made sense- 686.

The phone rang a couple times before someone answered. "686, what's your emergency?"

"This is... Lie Ren..."

"Actually, strike that, I don't particularly care."

Ren's heart sank- he knew that voice. The unmistakable voice of Neo Politan was rising up from his only lifeline, cackling at the look of hopelessness she imagined on his face. "We don't really _serve_ chinks at this hospital," she crowed. "Tell you what- to make it up to you, I'll get someone out there right away with a serving of your favorite ice cream. On the house. If you're lucky, I'll even have time to decorate it with your friends' blood! Wouldn't that be nice?"

Ren closed his eyes tightly before speaking up. "I hope you can hear me. I'm afraid It won't let me hear you, but I hope to the Dancer you can hear _me._ If you can... send an ambulance to 553 Ardent Street. Severe injury to my leg... broken... I need... help..."

His thoughts began to cloud as darkness closed in, Neo's voice continuing to cackle over the scroll. "Run all you want, little chink! Neo always finds you! I'll always find you and your


	40. Yang Xiao Long Lends An Ear

CCCC

"-faggot friends," Cardin snarled as his fist slammed against the wall just next to Jaune's head. "There's no point beating around the bush- just tell me where they are!"

Jaune looked up into Cardin's eyes in terror. It wasn't enough to be chased across the town by his mother, now Cardin had found him, too- and he looked madder than ever. The crazed look in his eye was accentuated by the long knife in his hand- a far fancier model than the one Pyrrha had described before, and made even more frightening by... was that _blood?_

Mustering his courage, Jaune shook his head. "I don't know where any of them are- and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

Cardin snorted. "You think talk like that makes you a big, strong man?"

Jaune stared back, remaining steadfastly silent.

Cardin stood back- immediately, Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark moved forward to pin Jaune's arms to the wall, keeping him from escaping. He couldn't help noticing the expressions on their faces- Dove seemed excited, while Sky seemed oddly... perturbed? It seemed almost as if he'd rather be just about anywhere else right now, but he carried on anyways.

Cardin brandished his new knife. "I'm gonna send you back to your mommy in teeny, tiny pieces," he growled.

Jaune's roving eyes fell on an old man across the street- he recognized him as the proprietor of _From Dust 'Til Dawn_ , who had just left his house to pick up a newspaper. "Help!" he called desperately. "Please! Help!"

The old man stared, tilting his head to the side. Cardin turned to see him as well, leaving whatever expression he gave to Jaune's imagination.

The old man bit his lip slightly... then simply turned and headed inside again.

Jaune's heart dropped as Cardin turned back towards him, smirking. "That's right, faggot," he chortled. "In the end, you're on your own." He turned his head slightly towards his cronies. "Take his pants down. I want to see how much of a man he really is."

Jaune recommenced his struggling. Dove jumped on the task with enthusiasm, but Sky looked more off-put than ever. "Cardin..."

"Shut up," Cardin grunted forcefully. "Just do it!"

Dove unbuckled Jaune's belt and was getting ready to pull the pants down when another voice came on the scene- "What on earth are you boys doing!"

Jaune's heart rose- he never thought he'd be so happy to hear the voice of Glynda Goodwitch. There she was, wearing a white blouse and pencil skirt even outside the classroom, the sun reflecting off her ever-present glasses as she glowered at the bullies.

"We're not doing anything," Cardin glowered at her. "Just playing a game. Why don't you just move along?"

"I most certainly will not!" Goodwitch shot back, steadily approaching. "You let Mr. Arc go this instant!"

"I don't think we will," Cardin crossed his arms. "Maybe you missed the memo, Good _bitch,_ but school ain't in session right now- you've got nothing over us! Now turn around and move along!"

Goodwitch's eyes narrowed. "Young man, I will not tolerate-"

"YOU THINK I GIVE TWO RIPPING SHITS WHAT YOU WILL OR WON'T 'TOLERATE?!'"

To the shock and horror of everyone else present, Cardin leapt forward with the knife and drove it into Goodwitch's shoulder- caught off guard, the woman fell to the ground, letting out a scream of pain.

"CARDIN!" Sky called out, eyes wide in terror. "WHAT ARE YOU _DOING?!"_

Jaune hated to take advantage of his teacher's pain like this, but he'd have no better opportunity- in their surprise, Dove and Sky's grips had slackened. He forced himself free and dashed off, running slightly slower as he refastened his belt, then breaking into a full sprint.

Cardin rose back to his feet, pulling his knife out of Goodwitch's shoulder. "NO!" he screamed. "NO, HE'S NOT GETTING AWAY AGAIN!" He turned the knife to point at Sky. "IF HE GETS AWAY, IT'S ON YOUR FUCKING HEAD, LARK!"

With that, he tore off after Jaune, Dove close behind. Sky hesitated, glancing back at Goodwitch- flat on the ground, clutching an arm to the wound in her shoulder- before following suit.

XXXX

Jaune sprinted with everything he had- if Cardin dared attack Glynda Goodwitch as he just had, there was no longer any doubt in his mind that the bully was officially playing for keeps.

It wasn't about pride or honor anymore- his life was truly at stake now.

He continued on his path towards the Emerald Forest- there, he knew, he would be safe. All would be right- he'd meet up with Yang, and she'd know what to do. She always did.

He charged headlong into the trees and continued his sprint, throwing only the briefest of glances behind him- yes, they were still following, but he'd gained ground. If he could lose them in the trees, he could find his way to the clubhouse, and everything would be fine.

He ducked behind brush and leapt over small creeks in his efforts to lose them. Slowly, steadily, he thought he heard their voices growing fainter. Allowing himself a small smile, he began working his way towards the deeper parts of the forest, following a winding path just in case they were still following him somehow.

XXXX

Pyrrha Nikos looked up at the sound of footsteps racing across the forest floor. She had been the first to arrive at the clubhouse that day, the post from her old bed at her side and ready to lay down their plans for the next assault. She'd had a more difficult time smuggling the iron bar out here, but she didn't want to be caught empty-handed any more than Jaune did. She was currently leaning back, the trapdoor above opened to allow light to filter in, granting her the light necessary to continue reading the romance novel she'd brought with her.

The plan had been to read until the others arrived- and it sounded like someone was here.

She stood and peeked out through the trapdoor to see Jaune sprinting across the clearing, eyes wide and scared. "Let me in!" he called. "Let me in, let me in, letmeinletmein!"

Pyrrha quickly moved away from the trapdoor, allowing Jaune to practically slide in like a baseball player, whereupon he quickly reached up and slammed the trapdoor shut.

"Jaune, what-" she started to ask, but Jaune leapt towards her, pinning her to the ground and covering her mouth, raising a finger to cover his lips in the universal gesture for silence.

Pyrrha took in his full appearance- the wild, fearful eyes, the disheveled, filthy appearance, the pale, sweaty skin... and decided that, for the moment, she'd do as he said. She nodded, and he slowly removed his hand from her mouth, listening intently to the outside world.

Several moments passed before the sound of more footsteps made themselves heard. Part of Pyrrha expected the rest of her team, but a quick glance in Jaune's direction prompted her to wait. If it _was_ Team Loser, they knew where the door was. If not...

"I could have sworn I saw him running in this direction!"

Pyrrha paled as she registered the voice of Dove Bronzewing. Even worse, Cardin Winchester himself answered. "Keep looking around- we know he's here somewhere!"

Their footsteps wandered around the clearing as Pyrrha fought to keep her heart rate under control- she did _not_ want to be discovered down here. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel.

"Hey, Sky!" Dove's voice sounded off again. "Shake a leg, will ya?"

"There's something... not right out here," came Sky's voice in return. "Maybe we should call it a day."

"We're not calling it _shit!_ " Cardin snarled. "Not until we find that faggot and his friends! Don't think I missed you letting him go back in town!"

"I didn't let him go!" Sky retorted defensively. "I was just a little surprised that you went up and stabbed Glynda Goodwitch in the fucking shoulder!"

Pyrrha struggled not to gasp and give away their position. In horror, she turned to Jaune, who nodded, confirming Sky's story.

"Here's what I know, Lark," Cardin snarled. "This knife is getting its fill of blood today, and it's not picky about where it comes from. _I'd_ rather it come from those freaks, but if it has to come from you, then so be it. I'll leave that choice to you."

A moment of silence, then a stuttering answer from Sky. "R...right, C-Cardin. Of course."

"Dove, keep watch here," Cardin ordered. "You say you saw him, he might come back. Sky, you and I are going to go look for a clubhouse."

"Clubhouse?"

"They tried to build one here just after school got out, remember? If I'm right, they came back to finish it..."

Cardin's voice faded as he and Sky presumably left the clearing- and, to Jaune and Pyrrha's horror, Dove's footsteps grew louder, until he took a seat right on top of their roof.

Immediately, they both placed a hand over each others' mouths, trying to stop one another from exclaiming in terror. If Dove noticed anything odd about the section of forest floor he'd chosen for his seat, he didn't acknowledge it, simply leaning back, spreading his legs out, and sighing. "One heckuva day," he muttered to himself. "Wonder what Cardin's gameplan is... never really any telling, with that guy."

He reached down to scratch his rear end, almost absentmindedly.

Another sound threatened to escape Pyrrha's mouth- stifled by Jaune's hand- but it wasn't what she'd expected. To her own surprise as much as anyone else's, she was fighting back a laugh.

She looked over to Jaune and saw the same odd mirth alight in his eyes. What was so funny about this situation? She couldn't put her finger on it. Was it juvenile laughter at seeing a boy scratch his butt, unaware that he was being observed? Perhaps it was the idea that the boy was hunting for them, blissfully unaware that his quarry was less than a foot beneath him right now, if he would only notice that the ground had far more give than usual?

As minutes passed and it steadily dawned on Pyrrha that they were _not_ on the verge of being discovered, her heart rate returned to normal, and she began to take in another aspect of Jaune that she'd previously glossed over- his smell. It was... unholy, not as though he'd not showered in over a week, but as if he'd come here via the town dump, climbing in every pile of trash one by one as he made his way across.

Jaune's blue eyes met her greens, and she could almost see the question marks in her eyes. Feeling somewhat guilty, she squeezed her nose and waved her hand near it. Jaune blushed and mouthed a silent apology, as well as what she thought was a promise to explain later- when they _weren't_ in imminent danger.

The minutes continued to drag on, and Pyrrha began to feel distinctly uncomfortable. She was glad they were in no danger of being discovered, but the need to not move and remain as silent as possible was wearing on her- she was growing rather stiff, and the fact that she had to cram herself next to Jaune, the boy she'd been pining after all summer, made things far more awkward than they'd be if it were... just about anyone else, really. All she could do was remain silent, hope, and pray...

At long last, more footsteps sounded off through the clearing. "Hey, Dove!" Cardin's voice rang out, loud and clear. "Sky thinks he spotted them over by Autumn Bridge! Come on!"

The roof seemed to bend under Dove's weight as he rose to his feet with a "Be right there!" and tore off after his leader.

As soon as she was certain they were out of earshot, Pyrrha took a loud gulp of air- it was heavenly after the shallow, silent breaths she'd been taking for the past fifteen minutes or so.

"Well, that was a thing," Jaune noted, smiling slightly.

"Indeed," Pyrrha nodded. "They chased you in here?"

"Yeah," Jaune nodded.

"Through the dump?"

"Oh, that," Jaune winced, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "Let me tell you, Pyrrha, I have had a day..."

"What happened?"

"It... it wasn't Curdle... it was..." Jaune bit his tongue. He found himself incapable of telling Pyrrha the whole truth, so he settled for half of it. "It was Neo. She chased me out of my house this morning."

Pyrrha gasped. "She did? Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Jaune waved her concern aside. "I just... to escape her, I _may_ have gone down a few alleys and climbed under a dump truck or two..."

"As long as you're okay," Pyrrha more asked than said.

"Yeah, I'm... I'm fine..." he nodded.

Their eyes met again, Jaune taking in her emerald irises, the light blush on her cheeks... and before he knew it, he found himself saying, "'Kind, crystal blue eyes... hide a heart as pure as gold...'"

Pyrrha's head snapped forward in surprise, but she only hesitated a moment before smiling and finished the haiku. "'...my heart longs to join.'"

"It _was_ you!" Jaune yelped, blushing something furious. " _You're_ the one who sent the postcard!"

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha said quickly- almost reflexively. "I hope I didn't cause any trouble-"

" _Trouble?_ " Jaune stared. "It was great! I never... I never knew anyone before who... who felt that way..."

Pyrrha looked back at him, and, heedless of the stink she'd just been complaining about, wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a kiss.

It was very fast, a light brush of their lips, but she immediately pulled back and recoiled as if she'd gone much further. "Oh, my... I'm sorry! I didn't mean to..."

Jaune stared back at her, a hand absently rising to touch the spot she'd just kissed, before a light chuckle escaped his own lips. "Well... I guess we should just be glad _Yang_ wasn't here to-"

He froze, a look of horror etched onto his face. Pyrrha looked back, concerned. "Jaune?"

"Yang," he practically whispered. "Blake- Ren- the others! They don't know Curdle's out here!"

Pyrrha's heart dropped. "Oh, my..."

Jaune rose to his feet. "You didn't see Cardin earlier today, Pyr- he's worse than ever before! Breaking Weiss's arm was nothing to this- he has a knife, and he stabbed Goodwitch in her shoulder!"

"You... you don't think he'd..."

"I'd believe anything of him right now," Jaune whispered. "Oh, Dust... we have to get to the others! We have to warn them!"

Pyrrha was starting to panic as well, but she struggled to keep a cool head as she offered, "Well... aren't they going to come to us, anyways?"

"If they miss Curdle altogether, yeah, I guess," Jaune shook his head hopelessly. "But we can't take that chance- we _have_ to go to Autumn Bridge- that's where they'll be coming in from! We have to cut them off and let them know!"

Pyrrha pursed her lips, but finally nodded as she rose to her feet, raising the trapdoor slightly and peering around the clearing. "On my mark..." she whispered, "make a break for it. One... two... three... _now!_ "

She threw open the trapdoor, and Jaune leapt out after her, leaving them to tear off through the forest.

Unbeknownst to them, that was the last time either would be here until twenty-seven years later, when Pyrrha returned to the clearing, answering some unknowable calling, and finding evidence of something else that had happened that day.

As Jaune lay against the ground, an object had tumbled out of his pocket, which, in his state of tension, he'd failed to notice or retrieve.

A single glass chess piece- a rook.

XXXX

Behind them, in the trees, Dove was silently cheering. "I told you guys I saw him in that clearing!"

"Yes, Dove, you're very smart, shut up," Cardin whispered back.

"So, we gonna get 'em now?"

"No- not yet," Cardin shook his head. "They'll be heading out to meet up with the others, now- they'll want to warn them about the danger."

Dove put on a 'deep-thinking' face that looked rather painful on him. "So then... then..."

"Jauney-boy's gonna lead us to 'em whether he wants to or not," Cardin spelled it out for him. "Come on."

He stood up and set off across the clearing, Dove smiling as he jogged afterwards. Sky bit his lip, casting one last glance behind him before breaking into a grudging trot of his own.

XXXX

It was another grueling run through the forest for Jaune and Pyrrha alike, the scenery transforming into a green blur as they made their way to Autumn Bridge as fast as they could. It didn't take long to find the Haven River, at which point they adjusted their course to follow it, ever curve, rise, and fall until they finally found the hill the bridge was built into. Sure enough, there were their friends, chatting away, blissfully unaware of any incoming danger. They immediately raised their voices, calling out in warning-

"Weiss! Ren! Blake! Nora!

AAAA

"Yang? Yang?"

Yang blinked, and pulled herself out of her reverie- she wasn't walking through the dappled light of the Emerald Forest, but down the dark, damp streets of mid-November Vale, Jaune Arc by her side, his glasses glinting in the light of the streetlamps above.

"S-s-sorry," she muttered. "Zoned out a s-s-second."

Jaune sighed. "What's the last thing you heard?"

Yang shook her head. "N-no, I h-h-heard it all," she clarified. "It's just... I c-c-could almost... s-see it in m-my head."

Jaune blinked. "Yeah... somehow, I think I know what you're talking about. That's how the memories have been coming back, huh?"

They looked up to see the Austin Hotel rising in the distance. Yang adjusted their course slightly, ever other step splashing lightly as her foot landed in a puddle.

"Th-that's the d-d-day we went, isn't it?" Yang asked, sounding more like she was thinking aloud than anything else. "The d-d-day we w-went into the s-sewers."

"Yeah," Jaune nodded. "I think it was. How did that day start for you?"

"N-not sure," Yang shrugged. "M-must not b-b-be too important. M-my guess is I g-g-got up and ate b-breakfast with D-Dad... I m-mean, not really _w-w-with_ him, b-but..."

Her voice trailed off, a pained light in her eyes. "Are you okay?" Jaune asked.

"Things were d-d-difficult b-back then," Yang admitted. "M-me and m-my Dad were c-c-close... up until R-R-R-R..."

"You don't need to say it," Jaune assured her, raising his hand and rubbing some gentle circles into her back.

Yang nodded weakly, gulped, and continued. "When R... when _th-that_ happened, it w-was like a w-w-wall was b-between us," she struggled to explain. "Anytime w-we tried to t-t-talk to one another... we j-j-just c-couldn't. I th-th-thought... I th-thought he b-b-blamed me for wh-what happened. I s-s-sure as _hell_ blamed m-m-myself... I c-c-couldn't st-stop thinking... if only I w-w-weren't sick... if only I'd insisted on g-g-g-going... if only... if only..."

"'For all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are 'what might have been,''" Jaune quoted sagely.

"Ain't _th-that_ the t-t-truth?" Yang chuckled wryly.

"What about your mother?" Jaune asked.

"N-n-never knew her," Yang said shortly. "D-ditched my d-d-dad right after I was b-b-born."

"Oh- sorry for asking," Jaune winced in sympathy.

"D-don't be," Yang shook her head. "You h-h-have as m-much right to kn-know as anyone. I kn-know it s-s-seems like s-s-small p-potatoes compared to wh-what _your_ m-mother did..."

"I don't wanna compete," Jaune shook his head. "We're all Team Loser- we won't get anywhere arguing about whose the loserliest of us all."

"P-p-preach, brotha, p-preach," Yang smiled.

They entered the lobby of Austin Hotel and checked in at the front desk. In one of those coincidences so prominent in Vale, the dark-skinned woman behind the desk was the daughter of the dark-skinned man that had allowed Team Loser, as children, into the hospital to see Weiss- though she had been only a newborn baby at the time.

"Yang..." Jaune whispered as they entered the elevator and punched the button for the second floor, "do you mind if... if I follow you for a bit?"

"S-s-something wrong?"

"No, not as such, it's just... I could use some company tonight."

Yang gazed at the troubled blue eyes for a moment before nodding and stepping out into a rather wide hallway, making her way towards room 613.

"Thirteen's an unlucky number, you know," Jaune teased lightly.

"V-Vale's an unlucky t-t-town," Yang shrugged as she produced her key and entered the room. "H-hard to imagine any p-p-place being l-less lucky than the others."

Jaune nodded, conceding the point as he followed her over the threshold.

Yang immediately threw herself on the bed, while Jaune assumed a seat in a nearby chair. "S-so... anything else you w-w-wanted to t-talk about, V-Vomit Boy?"

Jaune leaned back, eyes gazing through his rectangular glasses at the ceiling. "Yeah... but... I don't quite know where to start."

"The b-b-beginning is usually a g-g-good place," Yang suggested with a smirk.

Jaune gazed around the room, taking in the bedspread, the window, the walls, the light fixture- seemingly everything that wasn't Yang. "Well... I guess... there's a reason I told you the story about my mother."

"D-d-did you ever tuh-tell the others?" Yang asked.

"No... no, I don't think I did," Jaune shook his head. "I... I never told anyone exactly what happened until tonight. Even when my Dad came back to retake custody of me, all anyone knew was that she'd attacked me. They didn't know how... just _how_ bad it got, and _I_ wasn't going to tell them."

"It w-w-would have b-been a t-t-tricky thing to t-talk about," Yang nodded in agreement.

"Even so... I should have known I could have talked about it with all of you," Jaune's voice lowered. "I should have known I could talk about _anything_ with you. But no... I even kept it from the people I should trust more than anyone else in the world. I'm such an idiot..."

"D-don't be l-like that," Yang shook her head, her eyes narrowing. "Y-you're n-not an idiot. A g-g-goofball, sure- and we all l-l-love that about you... but not an idiot."

"But I _am!_ " Jaune cried, smacking his head against the back of his chair. "Why else would I break away from my mother like that, just to go off and get hitched with someone like Emerald? Why would I... why would I _do_ that to myself?"

A dark suspicion lurked in Yang's mind. "J-Jaune... d-did she d-do _m-more_ than h-hit you?"

"Huh?" Jaune asked, looking up.

" _D-did... she...d-do... more... than... h-hit you?"_ Yang asked. She bit her lip, then seemed to change tactic. "D-did she... m-make you d-do anything you d-didn't want to?"

Jaune's eyes widened as he realized what she was implying. "Oh- no. No, she didn't. Not for lack of trying, though. She'd suggest it, and beat me if I turned her down, but she never actually got me to do it."

Yang clutched her fists again. "That _b-b-bitch..._ "

Abruptly, she released her fists, her eyes turning from red back to lilac, and she gave a heavy sigh. "Th-th-then again, I'm n-n-not much b-b-better, am I?"

Jaune looked up at her. "What're you talking about?"

"T-ten or s-so years ago, I b-b-broke into a n-nightclub," Yang recalled, gazing up at the ceiling. "M-made my w-way over to the b-bartender, asked a f-f-few q-questions... then g-grabbed onto his j-junk and _s-s-squeezed._ "

Jaune winced, nearly crossing his own legs. "Why would you do something like that?"

Yang shook her head. "I d-d-don't remember. It w-was s-s-something I n-n-never should have d-done... I th-think it was f-from anger, b-but that's n-n-no j-justification."

"What happened next?" Jaune asked faintly.

"S-Scarlet bailed m-me out," Yang recalled. "You r-remember S-Scarlet?"

"Your boyfriend, right?"

"'B-bout as c-close as I've ever h-h-had to one," Yang shrugged. "H-he st-stuck with me the wh-whole time, even kn-knowing wh-what I'd done. H-h-he wasn't exactly... _impressed_ by m-me, of c-c-course... and I c-could hardly expect him t-to be... but h-he's the one who m-m-made p-peace b-between the t-t-two of us. The m-man w-wanted to t-take us to c-c-court, and Sc-Scarlet kn-knew that would r-ruin me, so h-h-he t-talked him into s-settling outside."

"I see," Jaune responded wearily.

"Sc-Scarlet... he's s-s-something s-s-special." She chuckled weakly. "H-he'd _have_ to be, to p-p-put up w-with _m-me_ for as l-long as h-he has.

"I r-really ended up r-regretting wh-what I d-d-did, and I d-don't know if I'd h-have p-pulled through if h-h-he hadn't s-supported m-me the whole way. I f-f-felt l-like a m-m-monster, b-b-but he encouraged m-me... helped m-me see s-something g-g-good in m-myself I c-could save. If he h-hadn't... I d-don't know if I'd h-have b-been able to c-come back."

Jaune sat bolt upright. "You don't mean that."

"I d-d-do," Yang nodded. "H-how c-could I have, when I s-s-saw m-myself as j-just another t-t-terrible thing this t-town produced? Another v-v-violent c-criminal who c-can't s-see the h-harm she's doing b-b-because it d-doesn't affect her?"

Yang looked up with surprise to find Jaune pulling her into a tight embrace. "You're not like that."

"B-but..."

" _You're not like Emerald_ ," he insisted. "I... I didn't want to tell anyone, but it was almost a regular thing- she'd beat me any time something didn't go her way. You're talking about one incident- an incident it sounds like you regretted ever since- and I'm sure you went out of your way to make amends. That's just the way you are."

"I... I s-s-suppose..."

"If Scarlet is what helped you decide to come over here, then I suppose I owe him a thank-you of my own," Jaune smiled. "It's not Team Loser without you, Yang. You're the fire that burns in the middle of this group. Ren's the beacon that called us back to Vale, but _you're_ the beacon of hope that made us all think stopping It was possible in the first place. You're the beacon that gave _Ren_ the hope to be what _he_ needed to be. He wouldn't have managed all this time alone... if he wasn't certain that you'd come back."

"And h-here we are," Yang smiled slightly.

Jaune smiled back. "And here we are," he agreed.

The two gazed at each other in the dim moonlight leaking in from the nearby window. Almost before he realized he was doing it, Jaune leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. Yang grunted in surprise, then seemed to permit it, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him closer. Jaune pulled away momentarily. "I'm sorry... it feels odd... but I can't stop." He went in again.

 _Of course it feels odd,_ Yang mentally agreed, even as she began to remove his shirt. _It shouldn't be you and me. It's supposed to be Pyrrha here, comforting you. I think we all knew it, even then- it should be_ Pyrrha _comforting you, not me._ A rash of guilt ran through her chest as she continued her line of thought. _And it should be Scarlet comforting me..._

As traitorous as the thought made her feel, there was no _romantic_ love between them at that moment- she sensed that much. Even as Jaune reciprocated her earlier move by stripping her of her jacket, then her top, the need between them wasn't quite what she'd felt whenever she slept with Scarlet. At the moment, _comforting_ was exactly the right word- they were two souls working to comfort each other with their bodies.

Jaune abandoned his work of stripping Yang bare to wrap his arms around her again, pulling her close, her returning the favor.

One room over, the phone was ringing, a very desperate Sage Ayana on the line with an urgent message for Jaune Arc- a message that would not be delivered on that night.

Abruptly, Jaune pulled away- much to Yang's disappointment. "Wh-what was all th-" she stopped when she saw Jaune's eyes- wide and shocked. "Is s-s-something wrong?"

"Familiar... familiar!" he gasped. Yang tilted her head in confusion. "Why is this so familiar?" Jaune elaborated.

Yang thought about it- wrapping her arms around Jaune, kissing him deeply... it seemed odd, but... had they done it before? She hadn't thought so, but-

"All of you!" Jaune yelped, leaping to his feet in shock. "Not just you... all of Team Loser! In the sewers... we all got together and... and-!"

The memory hit Yang as well, with the force of a tidal wave. "Ren's idea," she recalled. "It... it w-was his idea t-t-to get out, after... after..." _Dust,_ why couldn't she _remember?_

Jaune ran his hand over his mouth. "I... I... we got out by... by!"

Yang shook her head. "I... I thuh-think there's more t-t-to it th-than that," she whispered. "It w-wasn't _just_ that... we... it was almost l-l-like we _wished_ our w-way out." She looked up, an indescribable feeling lurking in her chest. "I... I'm not s-s-sure adults c-c-can d-do what we d-did then... g-get out the s-same way."

Jaune stared at her, open-mouthed for a moment, before crossing back to the chair and re-donning his shirt. "I... I need to go out and think for a while."

"Are y-you sure?" Yang asked sharply.

"Yeah," Jaune nodded. "Don't worry... I'm not gonna leave the hotel..."

Yang watched as he turned and left the room, feeling an odd sense of loss as she collapsed back in her bed, face bathing in the


	41. Cardin Winchester Opens a Present

AAAA

cruel moonlight that taunted him as he hit the pavement.

Grunting in anger, Cardin pulled himself back to his feet and glanced over his shoulder. Part of him still wanted to go back and confirm that Ren was dead- it was him, after all, that Cardin had hated the most during his time in Vale. However, there were sirens in that direction- ambulances, police, he neither knew nor cared. Besides, he was certain the chink was dead- that gunfire had been his last act of desperation.

Cardin glanced down at his chest, wondering vaguely how he'd survived. The knife wounds weren't all that deep- and leave it up to Lie Ren not to fight fair, hiding his knives up his sleeves like that- but there were no signs of bullet wounds at all. If he didn't know better, he'd think Ren had missed every shot, but he'd sure as hell _felt_ something hitting him each time- a sharp pain that caused him to recoil, stepping steadily further back, before making a run for it. Was the evidence of his senses lying?

He shook his head- there was no time to wonder about such things- he was certain Ren was dead, but that still left six losers behind. The problem was... he had no idea where to find them. It was the girl in the blue sportscar that had guided him towards Ren, dropping him off nearby and allowing him to walk the rest of the way. Where the other losers were...

He heard a car coming towards him, and, glancing to the side, saw the Renault Alpine once more, pulling up alongside him and stopping with a screech. He wasted no time climbing into the passenger seat.

"The chink's dead?" the person behind the wheel asked.

"Of cou-"

Cardin stopped when he turned to look next to him- the girl who'd driven him to Ren's house was no longer in the car. She had been replaced by someone remarkably familiar to Cardin, but that familiarity brought no comfort, because they should be dead- by all rights, there should be little left of them except dust.

Sitting in the driver's seat of the sportscar was Dove Bronzewing.

Cardin recoiled as his old friend turned towards him, accompanied by odd creaking and snapping noises- yes, it was Dove, but it also wasn't- his body was rotting away in several places, exposing muscle, veins, and bone. His clothing was bloody and tattered, particularly around his chest, where a particularly large wound was oozing a foul-smelling substance. His left eye, seemingly crushed and deflated, hung solemnly out of its socket, leaving only his right to focus on Cardin.

His voice was hoarse, cracking, and dry. "You're sure?"

Cardin hesitated, partly at the sight of his new chauffeur, but also because, looking back, he wasn't quite as certain as he thought he'd be. True, Ren had been on the floor, bleeding out, when he'd left, but he hadn't actually drawn his last breath. Surely, he thought, he was leaving the man to die, but...

The sirens. Ambulances, fire trucks, or police, they were undoubtedly circling Ren's house when Cardin last turned his back on it. And why else would they be circling it, unless they had been summoned by Ren? Perhaps a neighbor had made the call, but somehow, Cardin doubted it- that wasn't how things worked in Vale. Neighbors tended to turn the other way when bad things happened- he remembered having that faggot, Jaune Arc, underneath his fist. The old man that used to run a shop around here had simply watched it happen before turning and heading back inside. No, it wasn't a neighbor that had called emergency services on Ren's behalf- it could only have been the man himself.

But still, that wasn't to say he didn't die in the meantime...

"He's dead, or he will be soon," Cardin grunted. " _That_ much I'm sure about."

Dove gazed at him a little longer through his one good eye before a sharp series of cracks and other unspeakable noises heralded him turning back to the road. A moment later, they were off.

Cardin turned to the window to watch Vale roar by in the night, determinedly looking everywhere but at his companion. It wasn't just Dove's undead nature that brought him discomfort- the last time he'd seen his friends wormed its way into his head as well.

A shiver ran down his spine as he recalled the tv flickering on in Ren's house, taking on the appearance of a news station, except the anchorman had been Sky Lark, his body adjusting papers on the table in front of him, right next to where his head sat, smirking out of the screen at the two men brawling on the ground.

"We interrupt this broadcast to bring you a special bulletin- Cardin Winchester finds himself bested by a simple chink! Go figure, huh? Good ol' Cardin Winchester, ever the laughingstock of Beacon Academy- even his own father didn't care for him! Can't even kill a simple chink when he has every opportunity-"

Ren had spoken up at that point, seemingly attempting to drown out the sound of the television- "Cardin, _no!_ Don't listen- whatever you're seeing, it's not real! Just another trick!"

But Sky had persisted. "You gonna do what you couldn't do last time, Cardin? These losers have it coming, ain't that

CCCC

right, Cardin?"

Cardin glanced at Dove and Sky, pacing aimlessly around his yard with seemingly nothing to do. "What're you two morons talking about now?" he asked.

"I was just telling Sky about my new car!" Dove repeated. "Zero to eighty in just a few seconds, ain't that right?"

Cardin scoffed. "If that's the most important thing you're worrying about, you need to sort out your priorities a bit."

"Still thinking about those losers, eh?" Dove guessed, rising to his feet and stretching a bit. "You gotta let it go sometime, man, all this stress ain't healthy for ya."

"The fuck do _you_ know?" Cardin asked, glowering back at his friend. "Everything's been falling apart for a _year_ now, thanks to those _freaks._ "

"I get it, I get it!" Dove raised his hands defensively. "It's just... with everything else that's going on, maybe it would be best to put them on the back-burner for a bit, you know? Kick back, relax, enjoy the rest of summer."

"Especially after what happened to Russell," Sky put in, his arms crossed as he leaned against a nearby tree. He had been oddly silent all day, a far-off look in his eye that put Cardin ill at ease- it seemed as though he was hiding something. "We're just concerned you don't quite have your head on straight, man."

Cardin spun around to face him. "The _fuck_ did you just say?!"

Sky's eyes widened, and he took a few steps back. "No, wait, I didn't mean-"

"You trying to tell me I'm _sick in the head?!_ "

"That's not what I-"

"After everything that's happened, don't you _dare_ tell me that I belong in a crazy-house!"

"Cardin!" Dove spoke up, panic clear in his voice. "He's not trying to say you're crazy- just that you could use some rest!"

Cardin gritted his teeth- his so-called friends didn't know the _half_ of it- those losers were at the root of _everything_ wrong right now.

His father... his father had never been the same since the Rens had moved in. A bunch of chinks always upstaging them, and when his father got angry, it was _Cardin_ he took it out on. He kept a shirt on at all times to keep his friends from seeing the scars, but he felt his father's anger. Every. Single. Time.

His mother had committed suicide after being laid off by the Schnee Dust Company- in favor of a faunus, no less. Oh, he'd felt his father's anger that day, that was for sure- as well as every day for a solid month afterward.

And when he looked at those _freaks,_ wandering around like everything was _just fucking fine..._ with their loving families, prancing around without a care in the world... was it any _wonder_ it brought his blood to a boil?

Then that fat fuck Pyrrha Nikos had gotten involved, standing between him and that rabbit furry, and suddenly whispers started going around that he wasn't quite as strong as he'd like to believe- after all, if that land whale Piggah Nikos could stand up to him, who couldn't?

He had tried to prove that it had just been a lucky break, that anyone who stood up to him _would_ have hell to pay, one way or another- but she had gotten away, and joined up with the rest of those freaks.

Then the chink- and even Jaune Arc, the one who had always stood against him the least, suddenly grew enough spine to stand against him. All summer, everything had been falling apart around his ears, and it was all. Their. Damn. FAULT!

Just the previous day, his father had come home drunk again- and that had led to another beating, leaving welts Cardin was certain would take days to heal. Oh, how he'd love to take that pain and return it to those losers a hundred-fold... but, as they'd demonstrated, there was little he could do- they were more than willing to play dirty. To hurl rocks, to scream obscenities, to remind him over and over again just how worthless he was.

Cardin grunted as he turned away from the remainder of his team. "I'm going inside for a while. If you know what's good for ya, you'll leave me be."

Dove and Sky threw nervous glances at each other before nodding, resuming whatever conversation they'd been having before as Cardin returned inside.

He was hungry- he headed to the fridge, foraging for something to-

That was odd. There was ice cream in the freezer- as far as he could remember, they never really got ice cream. Yet here it was, a rather large tub with a cartoonish, smiling woman on the front, with brown hair framing one side of her face, pink on the other. Beneath the brown hair was a pink eye, and a brown eye beneath the pink hair. The tub was emblazoned with the name _Neo's Neo- A Prize in Every Tub!_

Curious, he grabbed the lid and pulled it off, revealing a smooth top of neapolitan ice cream, changing smoothly from chocolate to vanilla to strawberry. Something drew him to it- he quickly procured a bowl and scooped some of the frozen treat into it.

Three scoops in, his spoon hit something else.

He reached in, feeling something hard, and pulled- out of the ice cream came a long knife, cruelly sharp, and a much fancier model than the simple switchblade he'd had before. Bits of ice cream still clung to it as he laid it on the table in front of him, staring at it almost absently as he ate his way through the ice cream he'd placed in the bowl.

Almost in a trance, he stood, taking the bowl and knife to the nearby sink, leaving the bowl inside, and washing the remaining ice cream off the blade. With it gone, it sparkled almost unnaturally. He could almost hear it whispering to him, muttering something he couldn't quite hear.

A grunting snore sounded off from the nearby room, drawing Cardin's attention. His father was home. The welts on his back stung again, as if he could still feel his father's belt cutting into him.

His feet carried him into the living room, where his father slept in front of the television, currently turned off. As he approached, it abruptly switched on, revealing an odd show, seemingly a low-budget children's program, in which a woman sat in the middle of several other people. With a jolt, he recognized the woman as a more lifelike version of the woman on the tub of ice cream- Neo, wasn't it?

"And so, what did we all learn today?" the woman asked, glancing around a wide assortment of people around her- a scaly faunus leaning jovially on an old woman wearing some sort of goggles, a pair of fox faunus working together to carry a dark-skinned woman with brown eyes and hair, a tall man dressed in sharp black, including a top hat and a crisp black moustache and goatee... but his eyes were drawn towards the young, silver-eyed girl that answered Neo's question, bouncing up and down in a way that caused her flowing red cloak to flutter.

"I learned that if we go into the sewers, we get free ice cream!" she cheered.

"Yeah- we're all _much_ happier down here!" concurred another girl- the bunny-eared girl he recalled tormenting early in the school year, before she'd disappeared.

"That we are, that we are!" Neo nodded happily at them. "And you'll be, too, Cardin!"

Cardin jumped as everyone's eyes turned towards them- despite a screen still separating them, he felt as though he was standing before a large audience. Neo's grin widened as she continued. "Make it a wonderful day, Cardin! Kill him!"

Cardin stared at the television, causing Neo to laugh. "It looks like he'll need some encouragement! Come on, everyone! Kill him! Kill him!"

The others picked up the chant- the girl in the hood first, then the rabbit, then the older members of the cast, one by one, beaming widely as they shouted him on- "Kill him! _Kill him!_ KILL HIM! _KILL HIM!"_

Cardin found himself approaching his father, slowly, steadily. Somehow, the noise of the television seemed not to affect him at all- he continued snoozing even as he lowered the knife to his throat. He only woke up just in time to shout, "Cardin! What do you think-" before Cardin had pressed the knife into his neck and pulled, slitting his throat wide open.

"Ohhhh, and that's the way to do it!" Neo cheered. "Let's give him a big hand, everyone!"

"YAAAAAAAY!" the characters all whooped and applauded as Robert Winchester collapsed back onto the sofa, his life gurgling out through his neck. Cardin looked down, unfeeling, as his body began to twitch, then, finally, to lay still.

"Now's the time, Cardin!" Neo leapt to her feet, practically bouncing with excitement. "You've taken your first step! Now go out and kill them all! Kill them all!"

Once again, all the others joined in her chanting- "Kill them all! _Kill them all!_ KILL THEM ALL! _KILL THEM ALL!_ "

Cardin observed himself again- the only blood on him was on the blade- he crossed into the kitchen and ran it under the sink. It rinsed off well enough- anything left wouldn't be spotted easily. He headed out into the yard, where the rest of his team instantly jumped to his feet.

"You feeling better, Cardin?" Sky asked nervously.

"Miuch," Cardin nodded, as if nothing had happened inside at all. "You brought your car, right, Dove?"

"Yessir!" Dove nodded, immediately brightening upon his baby being brought up. "Dodge Stratus, zero to a hundred in just a few seconds!"

"Wasn't it zero to eighty-" Sky asked, but Cardin interrupted.

"Good. Get in. We're going cruising through the city."

Dove smiled as he led them towards his car. "Gonna rest and relax a little?"

Cardin nodded almost automatically. "We'll only worry about the losers if we run into them," he promised.

They would. He knew they would.

Dove nodded, satisfied as he climbed into his car. Cardin immediately assumed the passenger seat, jumping in and throwing a quick glance over at

AAAA

Dove behind the wheel, his flesh still rotted away, confirming that it was not some sort of bizarre vision he was having in the aftershock of attacking Ren.

Cardin returned his gaze to the window, immersed in his thoughts. Yes, that was how it all happened. They had cruised around for a while before encountering Jaune Arc on his own, accosting him and chasing him into the Emerald Forest. Eventually, he'd met up with Pyrrha Nikos, and they'd both unwittingly led Team CRDL to the rest of Team Loser. The chase had led them to the sewers, where... where...

Cardin's memories grew fuzzy as to what, exactly, had transpired in the sewers beneath Vale. Endless dark tunnels, a labyrinth of twisting passageways, and, of course, the man in the mask who had arrived to murder Dove and Sky alike- granting them injuries that they seemed to keep with them even into the afterlife. Cardin still remembered their screams... then his own attempt to survive, clinging on to what had to be his only source of hope... the only thing that would earn him mercy from the man in the mask...

Then the lights. Those horrible _fucking_ lights...

From there, he had no memories until he'd awoken on the banks of the Haven River, not ten feet from where Roman Torchwick would be found twenty-seven years later. Everything after that passed in a haze until his full awakening within Graham's Mental Institution at the brutal hands of Hazel Rainart.

All of it flooding back, Cardin turned one last time towards Dove Bronzewing, continuing his drive along Vale's darkened roads seemingly without a care in the world. "Dove... you're not still mad at me, are you?"

Dove didn't seem to respond. Cardin struggled to speak again, but he felt as though he needed to say something- _anything_ \- to explain why he'd done what he'd done that day. "I didn't want it, you know," he whispered shamefacedly. "Any of it... I didn't want you to die."

No response.

"It's... it's haunted me all these years," Cardin admitted, glancing out the window again. "I can't help wondering... if I'd done something different... _anything_ different... if you might not have... if you and Sky might have..."

He thought he might have seen Dove blink, but that might have just been his imagination. He gulped, and continued. "I... I understand if you _are_ still angry, but... things haven't exactly been easy for me, either..."

He winced at the sheer pettiness of that argument. _Sure, you died, but did you think about what_ I _had to go through seeing that?_

Regardless, however, Dove still showed no response.

"Dove... I'm just trying to say... is there any way... any way you'll ever forgive me?"

At long last, Dove responded, putting his foot on the brakes and bringing the vehicle to a stop. He reached down, bringing up the mace Cardin had received earlier, causing him to flinch...

Than, easy as anything, turned it around, offering Cardin the handle while holding the blades at the end in his hand as though it were nothing.

"Kill the rest of those freaks, and we'll talk," he grunted.

Cardin nodded, taking hold of the handle before leaving the car. He looked up to see the neon lights of the Austin Hotel- so _this_ was where they were, huh? Still...

"What floor are they- what?"

He had turned back to the car to question Dove further, only for the car to disappear. He glanced wildly around before spotting a leaf of paper on the ground. He knelt down and picked it up.

 _A message from your good friend Neo Politan!_

 _Weiss Schnee- Room 620- Atlesian Vanilla_

 _Nora Valkyrie- Room 614- Cotton Candy_

 _Pyrrha Nikos- Room 621- Mistralian Mudslide_

 _Jaune Arc- Room 615- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough_

 _Lie Ren- Room 625- Mint Chocolate Chip_

 _Yang Xiao Long- Room 613- Neapolitan, but she'd say Wild Sherbet- she's shy like that_

Ren's name was crossed out, while there was a mass of black ink below all the names indicating another that had been erased altogether.

 _I see..._ Cardin mused. _All on one floor? This should be easier than I thought..._

He approached the door and entered without reservations.

The lobby was empty, except for the woman behind the desk, but if she noticed the hulking man in hospital wear dragging a bladed mace across the floor, she showed no signs of it. Part of Cardin wanted to grin- yes, this was the Vale he remembered. The strong did what they would, the weak suffered what they must, and everyone else just turned their head and allowed it to happen.

He was at the elevator in no time, pressing the call button. The doors slid open immediately, as though they'd been waiting for him. Another quick button press, and he was being carried up... up... up...

He exited into a large hallway- far from feeling cramped, it seemed incredibly spacious, each door having a clear seven or eight feet on every side. No wonder this hotel had risen in popularity so much since the old days- though, to be honest, Cardin neither remembered nor cared the state of this hotel in the 'old days.'

Which one first? With his worst rival, Ren, out of the way, he felt free to eliminate the rest in whatever order he pleased. Recalling the list, he was almost unsurprised when his feet steered him to room 620. Yes... the Ice Queen could be the first to fall. It was the Schnees, after all, who'd started everything in the first place.

He thought he could hear two voices speaking with each other on the opposite side of the door. So there were _two_ losers in this room? Fine by him- he'd take out the one who answered the door with the element of surprise, then beat the other one down the same way he'd beaten down the chink.

His plan set in stone, he raised a fist and banged on the door.

The voices ceased, and a set of footsteps could be heard before a high voice echoed through the door- "Who is it?"

Adopting the least haggard, most professional voice he was capable of at the moment, Cardin called back, "It's the staff, ma'am. We have a message here for Weiss Schnee from her husband."

Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to take them back- what if Schnee hadn't been married in the intervening years? No, of _course_ she wasn't, who could ever put up with that prissy-

"Neptune?!" the voice gasped. "A message from Neptune?!"

...So she _was_ married- Cardin pitied the sap who'd gotten saddled with _her._ "That's correct, ma'am," he agreed. "He said it was very urgent."

Cardin smiled as the locks on the door audibly undid themselves before the door finally swung open, revealing


	42. Team Loser Makes Their Descent

CCCC

Weiss Schnee hiding herself securely in his closet before he turned and dashed to the top of the stairs.

Beneath him, Ren saw his father confronting another man behind the doorway- tall, dressed in impeccable white, down to his hair and moustache seemingly being cut with a ruler. At the moment, however, he was anything but composed- he was red-faced and yelling at the man before him.

"I know you're keeping my girl from me, Mr. Ren, and if you do not yield her, I will not have a _second's_ hesitation in buying out your farm and razing it to the ground!"

Despite the threat being levied his way, Li Ren remained remarkably calm. "I'm sure I have no idea what you mean, Mr. Schnee. What, may I ask, causes you to believe that _I_ am harboring your daughter?"

"She's not in any of her _other_ friends' houses," Jacques Schnee snarled. "Your son's is the only one left- she could _only_ be here!"

"I was unaware that your daughter had run away," Li mused, raising a hand to his chin. "Why, pray tell, would she do that?"

"It is none of your business!" Jacques shot back.

"I suppose not," Li acknowledged. "However, the last time my boy was in contact with your daughter was over a week ago- he was wondering about her condition himself. Isn't that right, Lie?"

Lie jumped at his name being called, but quickly schooled his face into a politely concerned look- quietly adding a bit of his semblance to remain calm as he stepped in front of his friend's father. "That is correct, Mr. Schnee. If anything, I was hoping _you_ knew where she'd gone."

Jacques scanned both of them intently, clearly struggling to detect any signs of falsehood. Apparently, he found none. He began to step away. "If I _ever_ find out you were hiding my daughter from me..."

"You are welcome to search our estate if you doubt the truth of our words," Li offered. "However, had my own son gone missing with a noted kidnapper on the loose, badgering his friends and their parents for information would be the last thing on my mind."

Jacques's scowl only grew more pronounced before he finally turned and stormed away.

Li closed the door, sighing. "I _do_ hope this is all worth it, my boy. Lying is hardly one of my favorite pasttimes."

"It's worth it, father," Lie assured him. "We _can't_ let him find her- not after how they parted last."

Li still didn't look entirely happy, but said nothing more before turning back to the living room as his son returned upstairs.

Lie gave a heavy sigh of his own as he returned to his room. "He's gone- it's safe to come out," he announced- the closet door slid open and Weiss Schnee emerged, looking down at the ground.

"I'm sorry to be causing you and your family so much trouble," she muttered, taking a seat on his bed next to him.

Ren smiled. "No trouble at all, where a friend is concerned," he assured her. "Believe me, mother and father wouldn't have agreed to keep you if they didn't know _exactly_ what they were getting into."

"Still," Weiss whispered, casting quick gaze out the window, where she could see a white limousine steering away from the house.

"'Still' nothing," Ren cut her off. "I'm sure you'd do the same for me. So would Yang... Jaune... Pyrrha... any of us would do the same for anyone else."

Weiss smiled weakly. "I suppose you're right," she admitted.

They jumped as the doorbell rang. Ren threw a panicked glance out the window. "I thought he left!"

"He should have," Weiss bit her lip, already advancing back to the closet.

Below, Ren could hear his father answering the door again. A brief moment passed, then...

"Lie? There's a... _friend_ of yours at the door."

Ren blinked as Weiss slid the closet door open a crack, surprise in the eye showing. _Friend?_ she mouthed.

Ren shrugged. "Someone from Team Loser?"

"No, it's... it would be best if you came down and saw for yourself."

Ren glanced behind him. "And... what about my white blanket?"

Li's voice became somewhat softer as he responded. "I suppose she can come as well."

Weiss stepped out of the closet, looking well and truly confused as she followed him down the stairs, where their jaws dropped upon seeing the boy on the other side of the front door.

" _Lark?_ " Weiss asked, eyes widened in surprise.

Sure enough, standing on the doorstep of the Ren family household was Sky Lark, dressed in his usual baggy summer clothes, his dyed hair still styled into its usual mullet. However, it was not the usual anger or sick glee that radiated from his muddy brown eyes- it was an emotion they had become only too intimate with this summer. Fear.

"I don't suppose... you want me inside..." he mumbled, eyes on the ground, much as Weiss's had been just earlier.

Ren peeked his head outside the door, glancing around for the rest of CRDL. "They're not here," Sky answered the unspoken question. "I swear, I came on my own."

Ren returned his gaze to Sky. "And what are _you_ here for?"

Sky bit his lip slightly. "It... might be best to talk about it out here."

Ren threw a glance over his shoulder before returning to his surprise guest. "Alright... but we're not going further than the porch."

"Fair enough," Sky admitted, stepping back and allowing them egress.

Ren stepped out, closely followed by Weiss, who closed the front door behind her. "So, what's this about?" the girl in white asked.

Sky still failed to meet their questioning gazes, instead focusing on the ground. "It's... complicated... difficult... I don't know where to start..."

Weiss crossed her arms, tilting her head imperiously as her eyes narrowed. "If you're about to ask for forgiveness..."

"No, not that... not exactly... _damn,_ this is difficult..."

"Is this about Russell?" Ren guessed.

"No," Sky shook his head. "Well... not exactly..."

Weiss sighed. "I almost prefer it when you're flinging rocks at us like a neanderthal- at least your intentions are clearly communicated then!"

"It's not easy for me to say, alright!" Sky growled, before returning to his former state. "Yeah, things got _worse_ when Russell went missing..."

Ren narrowed his own eyes now. "Did you and the others find his little 'hideaway' in Mountain Glenn?"

Sky winced. "No... at least, me and Dove didn't. Cardin... he told us. It turns out he knew the whole time, what Russell was doing up there. He didn't tell us as a way to keep Russell under control- but Dove and I... we never..."

"Cardin knew?" Weiss's eyes widened. "Cardin _knew_ what he was dealing with, but he didn't-"

"I don't know if you've noticed, Ice Queen, but Cardin's not exactly been himself lately, either!" Sky interrupted. "It... it started with these disappearances- somewhere around them, at least. It... I know he was never the greatest guy before, but he was never _this_ bad. All the things he's been doing... hunting you guys all summer, using that knife to carve open Pig- er, _Pyrrha_ the way he did... me n' Dove have never seen anything like it."

"Probably because you were always _helping_ him," Weiss sneered.

"No!" Sky objected. "No, it's not like that! It... it scares me, too. The way he's been acting... it scares me more than anything you can imagine."

Weiss almost snorted at the sheer irony of that statement. " _Try us._ "

Sky looked from one firm face to the other. "I... I don't know what he's going to do. I've gone along with him all this time, hoping I wouldn't be next, but I always had some idea what to expect. Not anymore- _I don't know what he's going to do._ This is beyond stupid schoolyard bully shit- if he keeps going on like this, the police are going to turn up at his home soon and take him off to Graham's."

Ren finally spoke, his voice surprisingly gentle. "And... what do you want us to do about it?"

Sky finally looked him in the eye, muddy brown meeting light magenta. "Help him. Please, help him."

Weiss's eyes widened. "You want us to _help_ him?"

"Not in his bullying," Sky shook his head. "It's just... I feel like, if there's _anyone_ who can reach him... pull him back from the edge... it's you guys. I know you don't really have any reason to trust me, but... the feeling I get when I see all of you... when I see _her..._ it's like you can do anything. You stopped him in the Emerald Forest- stopped him from doing something terrible..."

Then something truly shocking happened. Sky stepped back, then got down on one knee. "Please... I'll do anything. You want me to turn my back on him and join your team, I'll do it. Just... please, help him- pull him back from the edge before it's too late."

Ren and Weiss exchanged bemused glances with each other- not in a million years would either have expected this.

Finally, Ren spoke. "Well... we don't really have anymore spots open on Team Loser... but I think we might be able to help him."

"You mean it?" Sky asked, looking up hopefully.

"We have a... summer project, of sorts, that we're working on," Weiss put in, picking up on Ren's intentions. "It was mostly to help us, but... it might be able to help him, too."

Sky gave the lightest of smiles as he rose back to his feet. "That's all I ask. I... I oughtta get going, now. _Someone's_ gotta keep an eye on him..."

He turned and headed off, leaving a very befuddled silence in his wake.

XXXX

"Yuh shor fat whunt meem r somfin? Smf rk n t meh."

"Swallow, Nora," Ren smiled gently.

"Oh!" Nora gulped and swallowed the ice cream in her mouth, recently purchased from the parlor just down the street from the Vale Museum of Anima. "Sorry," she chuckled, rubbing the back of her head. "I said... you sure that wasn't a dream? Sounds like one to me!"

She, Ren, and Weiss were walking down the sidewalk, on their way to A Simple Wok, where they intended to meet up with the rest of their team before heading into the Forest to begin planning their next assault. The previous day's events prominent in their mind, they stuck to the shadows wherever possible, Weiss in particular ready to duck into the nearest alley should any sign of her father make itself known. Blake strolled behind them, nose in a book- though it didn't stop her from adding her own thoughts to the mix. "It certainly doesn't sound like the Sky Lark _I_ know."

"Nora, you've got ice cream all over yourself," Ren chided, still smiling nonetheless as he produced a handkerchief and started cleaning her off- not at all to the girl's chagrin.

"Be that as it may," Weiss raised an eyebrow at the two before turning her attention to Blake. "I can assure you that it did, indeed, occur. He seemed just as concerned over Cardin's behavior as we are, and for some reason, he thinks we can help."

"You told him to go stuff it, right?!" Nora asked eagerly as Ren finally removed his handkerchief.

"Actually, I told him we'd do our best," Ren corrected, returning to his previous walking pace alongside her.

"I don't see what we _could_ do," Blake noted, glancing over her book. "Cardin's not exactly the type that can be _reasoned_ with."

"I'm rather certain that his behavior- though deplorable from the start- has only been worsened by the influence of It," Ren speculated. "Once we eliminate It, he may be somewhat easier to communicate with..."

"I think killing It's gonna be easier, to be honest," Nora commented. "Just gotta have a little faith, right?"

"Faith _does_ seem to be carrying us through our encounters," Ren mused.

"Doesn't do much good for me," Blake commented, finally giving up on her book. "I'm an atheist."

"Same here," Weiss put in.

"You, Nora?" Ren asked, turning his gaze towards the girl in pink.

Nora eyed him up and down, seemingly trying to gauge something before shrugging. "Meh, never gave it much thought before! Too busy having fun to worry about the exi... exy... ex..."

"Existential?" Ren suggested.

"Yeah!" Nora nodded happily. "That stuff!"

Ren smiled. "I suppose that's one way of looking at it. I was raised on the basic tenements prevalent through Anima, though I must admit that this summer is making me rethink a great many things..."

"How so?" Weiss asked curiously.

"I think I get it," Blake guessed. "Kind of hard to cling to faith when something like It exists, hm?"

"Something like that," Ren nodded. "I have to wonder how people's outlook on religion might change if knowledge of Its existence became widely known- where does such a thing fit into the story of the slaughter of Yamata-no-Orochi? Would the word of Mohammed have altered had he taken it through Vale first? Was it truly a giant that David slew, or was it a woman offering him ice cream?"

"They had ice cream back then?" Nora asked, question marks in her eyes.

"He was being metaphorical, you dolt," Weiss sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Nonetheless," Ren continued. "Religious faith isn't the only type- one can have faith in practically anything. Remember Blake's story of the old fairgrounds?"

"Vividly," Blake muttered, her bow contorting.

"It retreated when you called out the names of the characters in your books- things that you took comfort in. I doubt you truly believe they exist- let alone _worship_ them- but just the thought of them was enough to buy you time to escape."

Blake glanced away shyly. "I... I suppose I see what you're saying..."

"COME ON, BUMBLEBEE, LET'S ROLL!"

They all spun around to see a yellow blur making its way down a nearby hill towards them. They quickly stepped out of the way as it made its way down towards them, finally screeching to a halt right on the sidewalk, leaving an impressive seven-foot skid mark, and revealing the smiling face of Yang Xiao Long.

"Over the top as always," Blake noted dryly, smiling nonetheless.

"Y-ya know ya l-l-love it," Yang smiled, hopping off. "Just w-wanted to st-stop by and l-let ya kn-know that P-P-Pyrrha's already at the c-clubhouse. F-figured w-we m-may as well st-stop by A S-Simple Wok anyways t-to s-see if Vomit Boy's th-there, then h-head on out!"

"Sounds like a plan!" Nora chirped lightly. "Oh! On the way, you _gotta_ hear what Ren n' Weissy were saying!"

Yang nodded and took the lead as Ren and Weiss filled her in on the events of the previous day- she, too, was incredulous that anyone from Team CRDL had the nerve to ask _anything_ of them, but conceded to the points they'd made earlier.

Jaune, as it turned out, was _not_ at A Simple Wok, leading them to make their way towards Autumn Bridge instead, Yang guiding her bike by hand so as not to leave her friends in the dust. The chatter continued between them until they heard loud voices screaming towards them from the distance.

"Weiss! Ren! Blake! Nora! Yang!"

They turned to see the two missing team members sprinting through the woods as fast as their legs could carry them. Rapidly, they summited the hill the bridge began on before finally stopping, panting, in front of them.

"Wh-what's up w-w-with you t-two?" Yang asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Aw, did you already come up with a super special awesome plan _without_ us?" Nora asked disappointedly.

"No, no, it's nothing like that!" Jaune shook his head rapidly. "It's Cardin! He's here!"

"C-C-Cardin? H-here?" Yang asked, her fists immediately clenching, her eyes turning red with a blink.

"He chased me in here," Jaune admitted. "I _just_ managed to escape into the clubhouse- I don't know where they are now!"

"He's... he's gone crazy!" Pyrrha panted out. "He... he tried to kill Jaune with a knife! Not just stab... _kill!_ "

The others threw glances at each other- be it of disbelief or grim realization. "Y-You're _sure?_ " Yang asked urgently.

"Yang... he stabbed Professor Goodwitch," Jaune recalled with a shudder. "She was passing by when he was attacking me, so he shoved the knife into her shoulder!"

An odd change was coming over the environment as the conversation continued- the once-blue skies were being overtaken by dark, ominous clouds, and as they spoke, Blake was the first to sense a drop of rain, prompting her ears to twitch in displeasure.

Yang's face grew grimmer by the second. "D-does everyone have their wuh-weapons?" As she spoke, she produced her own brass knuckles, though not the handgun that she still kept with her.

The others nodded- none had dared leave home without. Ren felt the knives up his sleeves, and felt in his pocket for the bolt gun- only one shot this time. He could only leave his house dressed like a cowboy so many times before his parents grew suspicious. Jaune, of course, still had the silver knife, while Pyrrha had kept her hand clutched tight around her makeshift spear the entire way through the forest. Despite the odd glances it earned her, Weiss had refused to part from her rapier as she headed into town- ditto for Nora and her hammer, though she at least had the ready excuse that she was helping a friend with a construction project. As for Blake, she slightly adjusted the white coat she was wearing- rather out of place for what had been a bright, sunny day- to reveal that it was hiding the chain draped over her shoulders.

"Good," Yang nodded. "We w-w-warned him wh-what would h-h-happen if he c-c-came back. It's tuh-time to f-f-fight."

"This isn't like the rock fight, Yang!" Pyrrha objected. "He's not out to hurt us- he's out to _kill!_ "

"And _I'm_ willing to guess he has _It_ on his side, too!" Ren put in, the shouting made necessary by the increasing wind. Blake's ears twitched again as the distant sound of thunder crossed them. "We won't be able to stop him if that's the case!"

Blake's book, previously held securely under her arm, dropped as she came to a startling, _harrowing_ revelation. "This... this is what It wants!" she interrupted. The others turned to her, confused. "Ren, you say it introduces itself with an act of violence, then bows out with another?" Ren nodded. "This is what It wants!" she repeated. "It wants Cardin to kill all of us out here in the Emerald Forest, then use that as cover to go back to sleep!"

The others paled as the revelation came to them, as well.

Another crash of thunder- this one _far_ closer than it should be.

"We can't stop them, Yang!" Weiss agreed. "Not while It's backing them up!"

Yang bit her lip, looking around at the pale, scared faces of her team. A dark suspicion was rising in her, as well. "Did... d-d-did any of you t-talk to your p-p-parents today?"

The others exchanged surprised looks. "Well, no- they weren't even home!" Nora stated as though it were obvious.

"I haven't really talked to my parents since yesterday- since Jacques and Sky were over," Ren admitted.

"Well... my Mom was in bed," Pyrrha shrugged, rubbing at the back of her head.

But Blake seemed the most perturbed. "I... I _tried_ to talk to them, but they brushed me off like I wasn't even there. That's never... that's not something that's ever happened before."

Yang's fists shook as she held them at her sides. "You're right," she muttered. "You're _all_ r-r-r-right. That's It's p-p-plan. It wants C-Cardin to k-k-kill us... t-today. If he h-has to snuh-sneak into our h-h-houses and k-kill us t-tonight, he w-will. And n-n-none of our puh-parents will nuh-nuh-notice- not til it's all oh-over."

"But... but... my parents would never-" Blake started, but Yang cut her off with a sad look.

"Nuh-no... not _n-n-normally..._ but this is V-Vale. Thuh- _that's_ the s-s-secret. It _is_ V-Vale. W-we d-d-didn't tuh-talk to our p-p-parents t-today b-b-because... until w-w-we're d-dead... we m-m-might as w-well n-not exist at all."

The dropping temperature atop Autumn bridge was not exclusively because of the falling rain.

"So... what do we do now?" Jaune asked hopelessly.

Yang bit her lip again. "W-w-we have n-no other chuh-choice. We k-k-kill It. T-today."

"Today?!" the others- Weiss, Blake, and Jaune in particular asked, horror entering their voices.

"W-we've g-g-got no other ch-choice!" Yang repeated. "We w-w-wait, Cardin k-k-kills us! Y-you said it yourselves, w-w-we c-can't b-beat him with It b-b-backing him up! We c-c-can't go h-home- he'll j-j-just k-kill us there! The only th-th-thing left to do... is t-t-take the f-f-fight to It! You all h-h-have your w-w-weapons, don't ya?"

That was true... they'd already shown as much.

Pyrrha was the first to speak. "But how... how do we find it? Are we going all the way back to Vickery Lane?"

"N-n-not with Team C-C-Curdle on our t-t-tails," Yang shook her head. "P-Pyrrha... you s-s-said you h-hid in a d-drainpipe? The d-d-day you met me n' W-Weiss?"

"Yeah, I remember-" Pyrrha nodded, only for Yang to interrupt.

"T-take us there."

"Huh?" Pyrrha asked, surprised.

"D-do you th-think you c-c-could take us there?" Yang repeated.

"Well... it wasn't too far from here, so... yes. Yes, of course."

"D-do it," Yang nodded. "S-s-sorry, Weiss... l-looks like w-we'll have to g-get a l-l-little d-dirty."

"Let's do what we have to," Weiss shook her head.

"Right," Pyrrha nodded, nerves coursing through her as she turned and

AAAA

faced the mirror in her hotel room.

The trip around Vale to the hotels she, Nora, and Weiss had stayed at the previous night had been largely uneventful, aside from a few hasty excuses for why they were cancelling their week-long reservations. They had arrived at the Austin Hotel with equally little fanfare- not that that was a bad thing, as far as she was concerned. Even the woman behind the desk hardly seemed to notice them as they checked in and headed up to their rooms.

Tentatively, Pyrrha raised her shirt, revealing the scars on her midsection once more. The thin, white C and the three angry gashes left by the beowolf- she remembered, as though it were yesterday, seeing Jaune in imminent danger and leaping in to protect him. Despite the scarring she'd sustained, she knew she'd do it again- as many times as she needed to see Jaune safe and sound.

Guilt ate away at her when she remembered the abusive relationship Jaune had described- particularly as he had only done so upon his team's coercion. What horrors must he have suffered over the years at Emerald's whims? More importantly, could she have done anything to stop it? What could she have done? What _had_ she done?

She was distracted by a knocking at her door. She turned and opened it up to reveal the man himself on the other side, looking very sheepish, clutching one arm in the other. "Can... can I come in?" he asked shyly.

"Of course," Pyrrha nodded, stepping back. "Is something wrong?"

Jaune closed the door behind himself as he stepped into her room, gazing around in interest. "I... I think I remembered something else, Pyrrha... something I wanted to talk about with you..."

"What might that be?" Pyrrha asked curiously.

To her surprise, Jaune turned to meet her gaze steadily. "Kind, crystal blue eyes... hide a heart as pure as gold..."

Pyrrha felt her heart melting- she didn't know whether to laugh or cry as she finished the poem she'd written all those years ago. "My heart longs to join."

Jaune smiled warmly. "I should have known... it was you. It was _always_ you." He chuckled slightly as he advanced towards her, before pulling her into a tight hug. "How... how could I have been so _blind?_ "

Pyrrha hesitated only a moment before returning the hug, holding him tight. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry about what happened... while we were apart. If I could... I'd do anything to change it..."

Jaune pulled away slightly, lifting her head with a finger- despite being remarkably tall, Jaune still beat her out. "You have nothing to apologize for," he assured her, before pressing their lips together.

It was bliss- Pyrrha allowed herself to sink into the kiss, even as she knelt down-

Knelt down.

She had previously been looking up- why was she now hunching over to meet Jaune's lips?

She opened her eyes, and caught sight of Jaune's back in the mirror- except it wasn't Jaune. His hair was no longer blond, but a clashing mix of dark brown and bright pink.

Pyrrha leapt back with a screech of horror. Jaune was no longer in the room- the person she'd been kissing grinned up at her, a dark smirk that she wore with pride even as she raised an arm to wipe off her lips. "I _knew_ you'd like it if it was him," Neo taunted delightedly.

Pyrrha pressed herself back into the wall, quickly reaching into her pocket, fumbling around for the chess piece.

Far from being put off, Neo only laughed harder as Pyrrha produced her talisman, practically bent double in mirth.

Another scream sounded off- remarkably close by. Pyrrha threw the briefest glance behind her, recognizing Weiss's voice, before quickly turning back towards Neo.

She had drawn no closer in the intervening time- despite her laughter, her eyes were still fixed on that chess piece. Her smile didn't disappear, though, as she met Pyrrha's eyes again. "I'll let you take care of that." She bowed and stepped back, seemingly fading into nothing. Pyrrha kept her eyes on the spot as she approached her room's door before dashing out.

She emerged into the hallway and turned to sprint across the few feet separating her room and Weiss's. Her heart was racing, particularly when she saw the door hanging open. _No, no, no, no!_ In her haste to enter, she kicked the door open, practically knocking it off its hinges, revealing a rather gruesome sight on the other side.

XXXX

"Weiss? Mind if we talk a bit?" Nora asked as they saw Pyrrha off into her room.

Weiss hesitated only a moment before nodding. "Of course." Realizing how that sounded, she verbally backtracked a bit. "I mean, of course _not._ Come on in." She opened the door to her room, allowing Nora in before closing it behind her. The two laid their luggage down before taking seats on the beds.

"What's on your mind?" Weiss asked.

"It's... Ren," Nora admitted. "I... I still feel guilty about leaving him behind all these years."

Weiss gave a humorless chuckle. "You're not alone in that," she admitted. "I doubt that any one of us will stop feeling guilty just because _he's_ letting us off the hook. If..." she paused for a moment, before taking a deep breath and continuing. "I think, if Blake were here, she'd feel exactly the same."

Nora nodded sorrowfully. "And... that's another thing. Blake. If... maybe if we'd stayed in contact... do you think... maybe we could have saved her?"

"I don't know," Weiss admitted heavily. "Until a few days ago, I'd forgotten who Blake Belladonna _was,_ aside from a name in the papers. To be grieving for her like this, after all this time..."

Nora looked up at Weiss, doing her best to fix her icy blue eyes with her sincere turquoise. "If... if we kill It... do you think we'll forget again?"

Weiss blinked- in all honesty, she hadn't even considered the possibility. "Well... I suppose it's _feasible._ We forgot after we left Vale last time..."

"But I don't _want_ to forget!" Nora interrupted, distress making its way into her voice. "I finally remembered all of you, I don't want to just _forget_ again! I don't... I don't want to forget _him_ again..."

She looked down, and Weiss allowed herself a small smile, reaching out and patting her on the back. "Things are different this time," she pointed out. "Last time, our parents _forced_ us to leave before we could really wrap our heads around what happened. This time, we can stay as long as we want- as long as it takes to make sure we don't forget each other again."

Nora looked down. "I _do_ have a show to do in a couple weeks... I promised _them,_ too."

Weiss smiled. "Then I guess we'll just have to kill It all the faster- give ourselves as much time as possible, to make sure we remember."

Nora finally smiled back. "Promise me you won't forget me, Ice Queen?"

"Stop calling me that name, and I'll promise you anything you want," Weiss nodded.

Nora laughed slightly. "Nag all you want, you'll _always_ be our little Ice Queen!"

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!*

Weiss glanced up. "Who could _that_ be?"

"One of the others?" Nora suggested with a shrug.

Weiss returned the shrug in kind before rising to her feet and crossing the room. "Who is it?"

"It's the staff, ma'am," a rough voice responded. Weiss blinked- apparently, the staff didn't like being up this late much more than she did. All further thoughts were washed aside, however, at the voice's next words- "We have a message here for Weiss Schnee from her husband."

Weiss's heart jumped- had something happened? "Neptune?! A message from Neptune?!"

A moment of silence- likely the staff checking the name- then an answer. "That's correct, ma'am. He said it was very urgent."

Weiss quickly undid the locks and thrust the door open- and was only saved from her head immediately being caved in by a quick leap backward when she saw the man on the other side.

He wasn't staff- that much was blindingly obvious. His clothes were rags, seeming much more like he'd just broken out of a hospital than like someone who worked at a hotel. Furthermore, hotel staff did _not_ routinely attempt to bash their guests' heads in with a large, bladed mace.

Nora was on her feet in a second upon hearing the crash. "It's her!" she cried, immediately producing her oval stone. Almost without thinking, she threw it right over Weiss's head at the intruder, smacking him directly in the face.

Far from being driven away, he only seemed angrier. "Still throwing rocks, are we?" he growled. "I just killed the chink for that, you bitches... and you're next! YOU'RE NEXT!"

Only one grain of truth worked its way out of the man's angry rant to Nora's ears. "Chi- Ren? You killed _Ren?_ " A look of horror spread across her face- only to be replaced with anger. "You killed Ren? _You killed Ren?_ YOU KILLED REN? I'LL KILL _YOU!_ "

She dove over to her luggage and swiftly produced the large war hammer she'd brought to Vale, letting out an unearthly screech as she swung it at the intruder, who blocked it with his mace. Weiss worked her way underneath, making her way towards the luggage- and the rapier she kept hidden therein.

The two others in the room continued swinging at each other, letting out primal screams- Weiss didn't know who the man was, but she could read the purpose behind Nora's fury like an open book. Her heart sank... if Ren was really dead...

She shook it off- if Ren was dead, there would be time to grieve _after_ they'd removed their _own_ lives from immediate danger.

With a crash, the man got the upper hand- despite blocking the blow with her hammer, Nora found herself smashed into the opposite wall of the room. As the intruder approached her, Nora glared up at him with more anger and hatred than she'd expressed towards anyone else in her life. "I'm... going to break... your _fucking_ legs!" she yelled, raising the hammer just as he raised his mace. With nothing to block, her hammer swung true, smashing into his right leg and sending him sprawling over the bed behind him with a scream.

Weiss looked up in surprise- his head had just come within an inch of slamming into hers. The man rolled over, spying her, seemingly defenseless as she rooted through her luggage in desperation. He quickly readied his mace again, seemingly determined to kill at least _one_ of them.

Weiss finally found exactly what she'd been looking for. She quickly pulled it out and spun around, raising her only defense.

A horrible squelching noise followed, alongside the squeaking of bedsprings. Weiss's eyes widened at what she'd done. She had raised her rapier in just the right time for the man to fall onto it- spearing him directly through his left eye. A look of fury was still etched into his face as blood dripped down around his socket. She only had to attempt to pull her rapier away for her to know the tip was scraping against the back of his skull.

The mace had fallen to the bed, and as she and Nora both stared in horrified astonishment, the body collapsed as well. With one final pull, Weiss managed to get her rapier back, things staining the end that she didn't want to think about.

Nora steadily rose to her feet, glancing from the corpse on the bed to the woman who'd killed it. "Weiss..."

"I... I... I killed him..." Weiss gasped, struggling to keep her breathing under control. "I... I _killed_ him..."

"This... this has to be Cardin!" Nora gaped at the body. "Throwing rocks- it couldn't be anyone else! This is _Cardin!_ "

She collapsed onto the opposite bed as sobs began to wrack her. "And... and he said he... he said he got _Ren_ first..."

Weiss dropped her rapier, quickly moving to the phone. "We... we have to tell the others. We have to..."

Nora continued to sob behind her as Weiss dialed in the number for the front desk.

"Hello, front desk, what do you need?"

"I need to talk to room 613, please," Weiss requested, doing all she could to keep her voice under control, certain that she was still coming off somewhat strange.

"It's... rather late, ma'am," the voice on the other end pointed out. "Are you quite sure?"

"I'm absolutely _certain,_ " Weiss nodded with as much force as she could muster.

"Alright, if you say so..."

A horrible thought occurred to Weiss as the woman at the front desk stopped speaking, cutting to the sound of the phone ringing. According to Cardin, he'd already gotten Ren... what if he'd gotten the others, too? What if, even now, she was calling someone who would never answer- what if the phone was ringing right next to Yang's corpse, lying despondently on the bed, never to move again? No, she couldn't even _entertain_ that idea!

 _Pick up, pick up, pick up! Please, you big oaf, if you were ever really my friend,_ don't _be dead! Please pick up!_

"H-hello?" came a tired-sounding voice on the other end of the line, practically causing Weiss to laugh out loud with relief. "Whuzzgoinon?"

"Yang!" she nearly shouted for joy. "We've had a situation- I need you to get over to my room right _now!"_

Yang's voice instantly lost any traces of weariness, suddenly alert and urgent. "On m-my way," she confirmed.

Weiss hung up the phone and was on the point of dialing in a new number when the door burst open to reveal

CCCC

Pyrrha running down the hill, the rest of Team Loser behind her. It was definitely a challenge to keep their footing on a hill rapidly turning to mud as the storm raged overhead.

"Get back here!" came a shout from behind. "Get back here, you freaks, I'm gonna fucking _kill you!_ "

"They found us!" Jaune yelped.

"You don't _say?!_ " Weiss shouted back with as much sass as she could manage under the circumstances.

"How far to the pipe, Pyrrha?!" Ren called.

"Not too much- there!"

She wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or even more terrified as she spied the pipe she'd hidden in at the start of this summer out of the corner of her eye.

"It's g-g-gonna be a t-t-tight fit!" Yang observed. "W-we'll have to g-g-go in one at a t-t-time!"

"You're dead! You're all fucking _dead!"_

Yang glanced behind them, reminded of their impromptu time limit. "P-P-Pyrrha! You f-f-first!"

"Are you sure?" Pyrrha asked, definitely sounding uncertain herself.

"No t-t-time to argue, just _g-g-go!_ "

Pyrrha did her best to cast away her reservations as she climbed up into the pipe and began squeezing her way through. Never before had she wished so much that she could lose some weight on the spot. The pipe went on and on... until, fifteen to twenty feet inside, she found herself splashing down and looking up to reveal an entire chamber around her. She looked back towards the pipe. "There's a room in here!" she announced. "Crawl along enough, there's a room in here!"

On the outside, Yang nodded. "Of c-c-course," she whispered. "Sh-sh-should've known..."

She turned to the other losers. "W-Weiss! You n-n-next!"

"Are you sure?" Weiss repeated Pyrrha's earlier words, glancing pointedly at her arm, still in its cast.

"F-f-fucking _positive!"_ Yang yelled in frustration. "G-g-get _in there!_ "

Weiss nodded, climbing in and doing her best to crawl along the pipe with her good arm. As soon as she was within arm's reach, Pyrrha reached out and assisted her with the last few feet. "I'm in!" she called back.

Yang glanced around. _Who's left, who's left..._ "Blake!"

Blake looked nervous, but didn't bother objecting as she swung her way into the pipe, crawling along as quickly as she could.

"Jaune!"

Blake was only about halfway through the pipe when Yang gave the order for the next team member to follow- nonetheless, there were no objections as Jaune hoisted himself into the pipe, quickly scrabbling after Blake, taking extra care to ensure he didn't drop the knife.

Yang wanted to wait for the pipe to be clear, but she looked up at the opposite hillside to see Team CRDL coming over the top. Cardin looked particularly mad, even at this distance- covered with mud and waving his knife around like a madman. "Ren, _your t-turn!_ "

Ren didn't hesitate, leaping into the pipe after his friends just as Blake finally made her way out on the other side.

Yang threw a quick glance behind her before turning to Nora. "Alright, n-n-now-"

"You," Nora interrupted, turning to smile at her leader.

"Wh-wh-wha-"

"You go in before me. Don't worry- just trust me."

Yang was on the point of arguing when she noticed Team CRDL halfway down the hill. Taking her own advice, she followed Nora's instructions, pulling herself into the pipe as Ren pulled himself out on the other side.

As soon as she splashed down herself, she turned to see Nora _still out there,_ turning to face Team CRDL.

The group landed on the hill, nothing separating them from Nora but a very shallow Haven River.

Lightning struck overhead, and the next thing they knew, a burning tree had fallen into the gorge, cutting them off.

"Huh," Nora commented, glancing up at the heavens. "How d'ya like that?"

She then turned her gaze to the absolutely _furious_ face of Cardin Winchester, bringing up the largest smile she could. "Donald wants his feathers back, you duck-ass wearing fuckface!" she punctuated the insult by flipping him the bird with both hands before climbing into the pipe after her friends.

Cardin's screams of fury echoed through the pipe as she touched down to see a mix of amusement and exasperation on her friends' faces. "What? I always wanted to say that to him."

"Well, she was hardly going to make things _worse,_ " Ren pointed out, before turning to the pipe. It was obvious, even from this distance, that Team CRDL was doing their best to go around the burning tree. "It's a stalemate."

"Huh?" Jaune asked, confused.

"They can only send one team member in at a time- and we could easily overpower one. But the same goes for us. They can't come in, we can't go out."

"Except _w-w-we_ have a juh-job further in," Yang pointed out, turning to the other side of the chamber, where an out-of-place archway, of sorts, beckoned them further into the darkness. "C-c-come on... b-b-before we lose our l-l-lead."

She and Weiss took the lead, Pyrrha and Jaune right behind, Nora and Ren behind them, and Blake bringing up the rear, throwing one last glance behind her as their last connection to the outside world grew smaller, smaller, smaller...

Gone.

 _XXXX_

Okay, hopefully _these_ end-notes make it through the publishing process. If you've noticed a lack of notes at the start and end of the last few chapters, yeah, chalk that up to some weird glitch in my computer- or maybe its connection to the site. Most of the chapters are getting through to you, but my notes are getting cut off, along with the openings and closings of the chapters. I hope that hasn't been affecting your enjoyment- I'm trying to sort out the problems, but as long-time readers will know, trying to figure out _anything_ with my computer is an ordeal. We'll see if these notes get through to you- if so, we can hope it's a good sign of things to come. Until then, please R&R, constructive criticism and questions embraced, Gamer4 out.


	43. The Pieces Gather (A)

Gamer4 in. A quick addendum- a continuity error of sorts in the previous chapter has been noticed and amended. Thanks to GeorgeKYST for pointing it out. As a response to a review by guest reviewer Guest... I wasn't aware that the cover had changed at all, but thank you anyways- I'm sure Bree will be glad to hear it. It seems whatever bug was cutting out my opening and closing notes has been fixed as well, though I _still_ can't restore the notes for previous chapters- it's odd, every time I try, I just get an error message. Any advice would be appreciated- hopefully the issue doesn't resume for the rest of this story. Either way, let's diver right in to this one.

Disclaimer: I was already to another song, but since disclaimer radio seems to have been dead all that time, I'll pick up where we left off- Don't you worry about the dark- I will light up the night with the love in my heart! I will burn like the sun that will keep you safe and warm!

Chapter XLII

The Pieces Gather

Emerald Sustrai was dreaming.

In the dream, she was killing a man- something she _had_ admittedly experienced once or twice in the past, not that her beloved Arc knew it. However, something was different about this man- she did not recognize his face, but nonetheless, she knew exactly who he was.

The man whose throat she was slitting was her father.

This confused her, as she had never known her father- or her mother, for that matter. To her knowledge, both her parental figures had ditched her at an orphanage first chance they got- neither of their faces had any place in her memory. However, as sure as the beating she would dole out to Jaune when she found him for what he'd done to her, she was certain that this man _was_ her father.

There was a certain level of joy in the act, but not for the reasons she thought. If she'd ever envisioned herself murdering her father, she'd have thought it would be for abandoning her at such a young age, leaving her no other choice but to delve into a life of crime that had only ended a year or two prior to meeting Jaune Arc. However, her memories in this instance told her otherwise- she felt that this man had _not_ abandoned her at all- though she may well have been better off if he had. She felt stinging welts upon her back where the man's belt had dug into her with even more ferocity than she put behind her own swings at her boyfriend- something she would otherwise have dismissed as impossible.

Far more blood flowed from the man's neck than should have been feasible- it was beyond _pooling_ on the floor, it was filling the entire room that she stood in. She could feel it rising, covering her up, flowing into her mouth- but despite nearly drowning in it, she felt oddly calm all the way until she awoke.

XXXX

The room she woke up to was dark, and the loud man across the hall had finally ceased his relentless snoring. It took her a moment to regain her bearings, remembering that she had arrived in another town- in Vale, where Jaune had fled to, and now awaited his newest lesson. Her knives were still at her side- while she didn't intend to use them on the man himself- she had a perfectly good belt for that, after all- she fully intended to use them should anyone stand in her way.

For a moment, she thought she heard a near-silent, whispering cackle. _Great minds think alike, I see..._

She spun around. "Who's there?!" she demanded of a seemingly-empty room.

No answer came.

Scanning around, her blood-red eyes finally fell on something of note- a bowl set up on the desk beneath the windowsill. A card lay gently against it. Curious, she approached.

The bowl was filled with ice cream, almost white, but with a slight off-green color, chunks of black appearing sporadically throughout the treat. When had someone had the time to sneak in and place this here?

Her eyes turned to the card- filled out with immaculate cursive handwriting. _A gift from your good friend, Neo Politan._

Neo... she couldn't say she'd heard the name before. She turned her attention back to the ice cream, already outfitted with a fancy spoon that fit in with the rest of the hotel. It was curious- despite the length of time that must have passed since the bowl had been left, there was hardly any melt-off. Part of her whispered that she ought to turn away, but a much greater part bid her to take a seat and relax with the treat the hotel had been thoughtful enough to provide her with- it seemed to be her favorite flavor, even.

This part of her mind won out. She carried the bowl back to her bed and began scooping up the ice cream.

It was... delicious. As she had thought, it was a crisp mint-chocolate chip, all the flavors of winter rolled together and broken up by the sweet delight of cocoa. So intent was she on finishing the ice cream that she missed another oddity- not only had there been no melt-off at the beginning, but the ice cream still did not melt as she consumed it, leaving no pool at the bottom when she finished.

"It's good, right?"

Emerald's heart jumped as she spun around to see a woman in her room that had almost certainly not been there before. She was shorter than Emerald, who wasn't exactly the pinnacle of height herself, but part of Emerald still screamed at her to stay away from the woman at all costs.

The woman wasn't acting threatening- she simply took a seat on the bed Emerald had just abandoned, crossing her leg and draping her parasol behind her.

"Who are you?!"

"Your good friend, Neo Politan," the woman smiled, tilting her head slightly to the side, her mismatched eyes alight with amusement. "I'm here to take you to your lover, and help you teach your lesson."

Emerald eyed the woman with suspicion. "Why?"

"Because I'm like you," Neo shrugged. "I want to see him learn it as well."

"You want him for yourself!" Emerald snarled, reaching for her knives.

Neo laughed. "Of all the women in Vale, Emerald, I'm really the last you should be worrying about."

Emerald hesitated. "What... what do you mean?"

"He told you he was here to meet his old friends, right?" Neo pointed out, rising from her seat. "Did he ever tell you who they were?"

Emerald didn't respond, but Neo kept going anyways. "Allow me to clue you in- among his old friends are Weiss Schnee, one of the most well-regarded doctors in the world." An icicle pierced Emerald's heart as she recalled the rumors of Weiss's newest house having been designed by _her_ boyfriend. "Also among them are the famed athlete, Pyrrha Nikos and the influential comedian Nora Valkyrie. I assume you've heard of _them_ before."

Oh, she'd heard of them alright, and fumed if she ever caught Jaune leering at their images out of the corner of his eye. He'd pleaded that he'd been drawn to the posters for reasons even he didn't understand- ha! She understood very clearly.

"I've saved the worst for last, perhaps," Neo's smile widened. "The final member, and leader of their group, is the famed actress, Yang Xiao Long- and, if I'm not very much mistaken, he still harbors a crush upon her..."

Emerald felt as though the world around her had cracked. Yang Xiao Long... she'd heard the name before, of course she had. That impossibly perfect idol known the world over, appearing in more movies than any other actress of her ilk. And Jaune... Jaune was personal friends with her?

Neo shook her head in mock-sympathy. "Such a tragedy," she lamented. "To be left behind as he pursues a harem of other women, leaving you behind in the dust." Her faux-sympathy faded into a smirk. "Is Emerald Sustrai going to stand for this?"

Emerald took deep breaths as she felt her knives. "No..."

"Are you asking me or telling me?"

"No!" Emerald shouted. "I'll kill them- kill them all!"

Neo smiled. "That's what I like to hear."

XXXX

Scarlet David, too, was dreaming.

His dream was of an altogether different caste than Emerald's- he was not killing anybody, for a start.

In his dream, he was running through a series of dark tunnels, surrounded by a large group of what he guessed to be teenagers- though, judging by his height relative to them, he seemed to be around that age as well.

A foul stench permeated the tunnels, causing part of him to wonder where, exactly, they were located. What was more critical to him, however, was the sense of a lurking threat in the background- they had to keep moving. He knew it, they knew it- they had to keep moving, or some unnameable terror in the background would catch up, and all would be lost.

Even worse, it seemed that the place they were running _to_ was little better- danger lurked behind, and peril lay ahead- who was to say which was the better option, the lesser of two evils?

And yet... he was calm. Collected. Despite the danger, he knew that things would be alright- as long as he was with this group- his _team_ \- they would all come out okay.

That thought in mind, he began taking in the team.

He didn't recognize the majority of them- there was a short girl in white with a cast on her arm, traces of black indicating it had been signed before she found herself lost in this maze of passages. Behind him was a boy with long, dark hair, though a single lock of it was dyed pink. In his hands was a pair of knives, held overhand as he threw a nervous glance behind him every now and again, likely keeping an eye on the incoming threat. Behind _that_ boy was a girl with cat ears protruding from her head, long dark hair falling over amber eyes. Her arms were beneath a large white coat, keeping what was beneath concealed as she fought to keep pace with the others.

However, he thought he recognized the second girl behind him- with short orange hair falling around turquoise eyes and a pink skirt, she seemed very much like a miniature version of Nora Valkyrie, a comedian that he was familiar with, even if he didn't care as much for her actual style of humor.

And ahead... if that girl were to lose several hundred pounds, redress herself, and grow a foot or two, she'd be a dead ringer for Pyrrha Nikos, whom he'd never encountered personally, but had heard many stories about from his old friends Neptune Vasilias, Sun Wukong, and Sage Ayana.

But it was the girl at the very front of the group that caught his eye above all others. There was a glow around her body that seemed to indicate, whoever the boy was whose body Scarlet was inhabiting for this vision, he looked upon her much the same way Scarlet did himself. A bright light leading all others around her to an equally-bright future. Yes... the boy saw her as a beacon, Scarlet could feel it. As long as she was there, everything else would follow- everything else would be alright. Such was the effect of even a seventeen-year-old Yang Xiao Long.

As he watched, Yang turned her head around slightly and called something back- something Scarlet couldn't make out. Young-Nora seemed to respond, but like Yang, Scarlet saw her mouth move but heard nothing.

A point of light appeared at the end of the tunnel, but Scarlet seemed to be the only one to acknowledge it- the others hardly reacted as they charged towards it, growing brighter, and brighter...

XXXX

Scarlet awoke to a hotel room bathed in darkness, struggling to sort out his dream. Glancing out the window, he saw an early dawn- the sun had just begun to peek over the horizon. He rose to his feet, rubbing his eyes intently, struggling to wipe the sleep away from them. Today saw the start of his search for Yang- he wouldn't leave her alone in this time of crisis. He had sworn to her a long time ago to stand by her no matter what- he'd thought the incident with the night club owner would be the ultimate test of that promise. It had certainly been hard on him, resulting in a period in which the two couldn't stand to be in each other's immediate presence, let alone speak to each other, but at the end of it all, they had pulled through. Now, though...

Scarlet still found himself shuddering as he recalled the haunted look on his girlfriend's face that night- the night she'd left. Nothing should cause Yang Xiao Long to look like that. Even now, he found himself wondering what could drive one of the strongest people he knew to such dread, but the only thing he was certain of was that she shouldn't have to face it alone.

He heard a creaking sound behind him, but brushed it off- the hotel, as far as he could tell, was rather old, a little creaking here and there was to be expected. He got to work filling up his satchel- his 'man-purse,' as Yang liked to refer to it. Given that she had been the one to purchase it for him, her first anniversary gift after their falling-out over the bartender incident, he supposed she had the right to call it whatever she wanted. Spectacular design, fine material, and capable of fitting just about everything he needed, it had become one of his most prized possessions- because of all of the above, yes, but also because of what it symbolized. To him, this satchel- bag- this _man-purse_ was the symbol of how, no matter how dark things seemed to get, he and Yang would always pull through. A cheesy sentiment, he knew, but Yang just tended to bring out that side of him.

He heard the creak again- except this time, it was on his bed. He froze, and slowly turned to face it.

There was a woman there- if he gave her the honor of being called that. She had been mutilated beyond belief- a great deal of flesh on her torso seemed to have been rended from her body altogether, by long, sharp claws...

Claws like the ones she sported at the ends of her hands.

"Scarlet..." she struggled to choke out. "Am I still pretty... Scarlet?"

He let out a shout of horror as he pulled away, immediately charging through the door and out into the hallway.

However mutilated the woman was, she seemed capable of _moving._ He threw a glance behind him to see her- on the ceiling, reaching out and clawing her way across with _frightening_ speed. What little was left of her skin was chalk white, infused with cracks of black, while her similarly-white hair fell down towards the ground, doing nothing to cover her pitch black eyes, the only signs of irises being hints of red as her mouth opened in a horrific snarl.

He momentarily considered leaping out of the window for the swiftest escape possible, but he was too high up for that- some part of him knew it. He instead raised his feet to propel himself off of the wall and turn around the corner, making a mad dash towards the stairs. The elevator was right next to them, but he had no illusions about those being the better option.

The stairs, as it turned out, may not have been the best option either- he was hurtling around the first landing when he tripped and fell down the entire next flight, landing on the floor winded, pained, and convinced that he'd twisted his ankle.

Before he could make it back to his feet, the woman was upon him, seizing him by the throat and holding him up with that horrible snarl on her face-

Then she hesitated.

Scarlet opened his eyes, wondering why he wasn't dead, to see the woman's head tilting slightly, examining him as though he was the most interesting thing in the world. "Fascinating..." she whispered in that gravelly voice of hers.

He seized his opportunity, lashing out with his good leg and managing to foist her off of him. Twisted ankle or not, he forced his legs to carry him towards the stairs as fast as he could, and from the bottom floor to the exit. The whole way, part of him thought the woman had given up her chase- at the very least, he hadn't _heard_ her- but he didn't dare slow down until he was to his car.

There was a woman right next to it, about to hop into her own vehicle, by the looks of things. He hobbled over to her. "There's a woman up there!" he screamed. "There's a woman, she tried to kill me! You have to get out of here!"

The woman slowly turned back to him, revealing a set of blood-red eyes framed by mint-green hair. Chills ran down Scarlet's spine as she tilted her head slightly... then smiled. "Say... don't I know you from somewhere?"

XXXX

What remained of Team Loser gathered in Weiss's room, seemingly holding vigil for the corpse they found therein. Weiss continued to hold her hand over her mouth, struggling not to sob. Nora, however, wept openly into Weiss's shoulder. To her side, Yang's fists were clenching and unclenching, her eyes flickering between blue and red. Jaune had been the last to arrive on the scene, coming up from examining the hotel's lounge, and had immediately rushed to the side of the crying women. Pyrrha was the only one still active- she had her scroll out and was making calls in search of their missing friend.

At last, she had a hit- the Vale City Hospital. She quickly schooled her face into a bright smile, despite the lack of facial communication occurring, and began questioning whoever was on the other end of the line. "Yes, I'm looking for Lie Ren- yes, the librarian. Yes... yes, we were supposed to meet up with him this morning, but he never showed up... yes... is... is that so? No... no, would that I did... no, we haven't seen each other since yesterday- we broke up at the library. He... he has? What's his status?... I see... I see... yes, I see. All the same, we'll be there as soon as we can. Yes. Yes, I understand. Thank you."

She hung up, immediately attracting the attention of the others- Nora in particular. She sat down heavily in a chair nearby. "Well... he's still alive."

Nora hiccuped. "You're... you're sure?"

"He's gravely wounded," Pyrrha clarified quickly. "Cardin severed a vital artery in his leg, but he managed to bind it before he passed out. If he hadn't done that... he _would_ be..."

Weiss winced upon hearing the description of the wound.

"So... is he gonna be okay now?" Jaune asked uncertainly.

Pyrrha shook her head. "I don't know. They've got him out of immediate danger, but he's going to need surgery before they make any definitive calls..."

Nora got to her feet. "We're going to the hospital." Her tone brooked no argument.

"Agreed," Weiss nodded. "But first... what do we do with him?"

They turned to look at Cardin's body, still lying on the bed that was about to be Weiss's.

Yang found herself oddly subdued by the sight- such potential for greatness, squandered away by years of hatred in Vale, then years of catatonia within the halls of Graham's Memorial Mental Institution.

"L-l-let's wrap h-him in the buh-blankets and l-l-leave him here," she ordered halfheartedly.

"But... surely we should contact the authorities about this!" Pyrrha objected. "A man is dead-"

"And _wh-wh-who d-d'ya th-think they'll b-buh-blame?_ " Yang countered. "W-W-Weiss _was_ the one to kuh-kill him! I nuh-know it was in s-s-self-d-defense-" she added quickly when Nora looked up, outraged- "but d-d-d'ya think th-that'll muh-matter to them? To _Vuh-Vale?_ "

Weiss nodded wearily. "The mace is gone... there's no way to prove he was attacking me."

Pyrrha and Jaune quickly glanced around the room, doing a swift search- but she had spoken truly. There was no mace in sight. "But still..." Jaune objected weakly.

Nora looked away, biting her lip. "Yang said it, way back when- It _is_ Vale. If we get anyone involved, they'll do everything they can to defend It- whether they realize it or not."

Yang nodded, eyes fixed on the ground. "W-w-we can't afford t-t-to involve a-anyone else."

Pyrrha and Jaune still wanted to argue, but ultimately said nothing as Yang and Nora worked together to swaddle Cardin's body in the hotel's blankets, leaving it on the bed like a grotesque cocoon, before leading the others out of the hotel.

XXXX

The sun was just starting to rise as the hospital appeared in their sights. The sky had turned from black to a dark shade of purple, and the stars were starting to vanish behind the sun's light. They wasted no time in entering and approaching a desk behind which stood a woman with dark hair and a pair of cat ears. They shuddered- her resemblance to their other fallen friend was uncanny. The only major difference was her eye color- a sharp green compared to bright amber- and about twenty years of age.

"You must be here to see Lie Ren," she greeted. "I'm sorry to say, he is currently being operated on by Doctor James Peach- when he is finished, he will decide whether it is safe for you to meet with him."

" _James_ Peach?" Pyrrha repeated. "Isn't-"

"My brother, yes," the woman nodded. "You need not worry- he's one of the finest doctors in Remnant- dare I say, on par with Weiss Schn-" she paused when she saw who their group included. "Than... than Weiss Schnee," she finally finished. "If anyone can save your friend now, it's him."

The woman then pointed them towards the nearest waiting room, where they gathered on the sofas and began their vigil.

A strange thing transpired, brought about in part, of course, by their weariness, but something else seemed to be showing its hand as well. None of them had slept since the previous morning, leading to most of them nodding off into brief naps as they waited for news of their friend. However, not once did they all fall asleep at the same time- no matter what, one of them always remained awake, holding out the vigil. First, almost naturally, it was Nora, crossing her arms and refusing to fall asleep until she heard of her friend's condition. However, sleep steadily overtook her- but the exact moment she gave in, Yang awoke with a jolt, and almost on instinct, turned her attention towards her friends, watching over them as they napped. Just as she returned to her slumber, Jaune awoke and began the cycle anew. Next was Pyrrha, then Weiss, then the cycle began anew.

Hours passed, and to them, it seemed like lifetimes. Outside, though they couldn't see it, the sun continued its climb, until it reached its crest.

Regardless of where the cycle was at that point, they all snapped awake when the door opened, and a short man walked out. His eyes were a pale blue, hidden behind a pair of round glasses, and his hair was an odd bluish-gray- both on his head and on the feline tail protruding from his pants. He turned to look at them as he exited, and gave an odd sound somewhere between a cough and a grunt. "You must be the friends Holly was talking about. You're loyal to your friend here, aren't you?"

"Is he gonna make it?" Nora asked, leaping to her feet, struggling not to grab this man the front of his clothes.

Dr. Peach seemed to contemplate the question for a moment, then nodded. "Yes... yes, I believe he is."

"Do you mind if I have a look at him?" Weiss asked urgently, rising to her feet. "I'd like to make sure-"

"He's sleeping now," Peach interrupted. "You can talk to him once he's had a chance to rest- dust knows the man needs it."

"I can appreciate that," Weiss acknowledged, "but if it's all the same to you-"

"It's _not_ all the same to me," Peach interrupted, throwing a very sharp glare at her. "I can appreciate that you're a big-shot from a big city, and I'm sure we all seem like a bunch of uncultured hicks to you, but I can _assure_ you that what he needs right now is _not_ a second opinion- from _anyone._ What he needs right now is _sleep._ "

Weiss looked away from him, eyes downcast in what might have been shame. Yang looked up at him in anger. "Sh-she d-doesn't n-need any of th-that!"

Peach sighed. "Look... I can appreciate your concern for your friend. Honestly, I can. But I'm gonna ask you to trust me on this one. Let him rest. I'll let you know when he's good to have visitors again- you can stay here until then, if you want, or you can give your scroll numbers to Holly on the way out, and she can call you back. I don't really care what you do, as long as you're letting him rest. Burn down the rest of the town, for all I care, as long as he sleeps through it. When he's ready- I _promise_ you, when he's ready, I'll call you back."

With that, he turned and headed off, leaving five rather unsatisfied people behind.

XXXX

Silence followed. None of them dared leave, but none of them felt much like talking, either- not until they'd been assured their friend would be alright.

To Nora in particular, it seemed like years had passed before Dr. Peach finally returned. He hardly glanced at them as he entered the room for what felt like months, but was, in reality, a half hour or so, before finally emerging. "Alright... he's ready for visitors."

Nora immediately leapt to her feet, but Peach raised a hand. " _Not_ all of you at once- he's still recovering. I'd say... three of you, at most."

"I'm going," Nora said immediately, glaring around as if daring them to challenge her. Just like her earlier challenge, it went unanswered.

"I suppose I ought to go, too," Weiss put in, rising from her seat and brushing off her skirt. "Not just for a second opinion- _someone_ needs to keep Nora under control."

Jaune smiled weakly. "Then the last spot ought to go to our illustrious leader- right, Pyr?"

Pyrrha blinked in surprise, but eventually matched Jaune's smile. "Indeed. Yang... go with them. Jaune and I will wait outside."

Yang gave a half-hearted shrug of agreement before rising to her feet, following Peach, Nora, and Weiss into the chamber. Jaune and Pyrrha watched them go with a sad look in their eyes. Jaune fought to retain his smile as he turned to Pyrrha. "Want to go down to the cafeteria? Grab a bite to eat?"

It was with a weak nod that Pyrrha agreed.

XXXX

Hospital food was hardly renowned for being the most appetizing, a fact that was very much in Jaune and Pyrrha's minds as they sifted through the cafeteria's menu before deciding to simply grab some snacks from the vending machine.

Jaune sighed as he fed in some lien. "Funky town, huh?" he asked with a slight smile.

"Yeah... funky town," Pyrrha nodded, running down the list of snacks she might grab.

"This place has grown since we visited Weiss here," Jaune commented as the vending machine prepared to dispense a packet of Faron-brand jerky. "I think there was only one wing back then."

"The _town_ was smaller then," Pyrrha pointed out, smiling as he tore the packet open and dove in. "It wasn't... _always_ the case, but there was a certain feeling of that everyone-knows-everyone charm."

"Those were the days, huh?" Jaune wondered as he watched Pyrrha put some lien into the drinks machine and punch in the code for a can of People Like Grapes soda. "Wake up one day and find a postcard right at your... at your..."

"Something wrong?" Pyrrha asked, turning around as she popped the can open.

Jaune's eyes widened. "Pyrrha... it was you!"

He approached her as if in a daze, and Pyrrha let out a light squeak as he pulled her into a hug. "Jaune... are you okay?"

"It was you, wasn't it? 'Kind, crystal blue eyes hide a heart as pure as-' Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha had pulled away violently, now eyeing Jaune with terror. "No... no, it's not you, is it? It's not you!"

Jaune was taken aback. "What- what're you talking about? Of course it's me!"

"No, no, no, no!" Pyrrha lowered her head, grabbing the sides. "You remembered that before, but then, it was Neo, and... and...!"

Jaune's eyes widened as he pieced together what must have happened. He quickly stepped forward and pulled her into another, tighter hug. "No, it's not her this time... it's me! I promise... I promise it's me!"

Pyrrha continued to struggle against him for a moment, before placing her hands on his shoulders and sobbing into his chest. "I can't handle this!" she sobbed. "I can't handle this- I don't know what's real, and what's just another trick!"

Jaune raised a hand to her chin, tilting it up slightly to meet her emerald green eyes. "I promise... this is no trick."

He kissed her. Pyrrha's eyes widened, roaming around the room for any signs of deceit- a mirror revealing that it was Neo she was kissing, perhaps, or Cardin- but she found none. It was Jaune... only Jaune. She allowed herself to sink into the kiss, accepting, at least for the moment, that it was, indeed, real.

XXXX

Ren smiled when he saw who was in the doorway. "Your friends, Ren," Peach acknowledged, glancing between them. "I'll leave you to it for now. Just don't take too long."

He turned and headed out the door. Ren let out a chuckle. "Same old Peach- very rough around the edges, but you won't find a better doctor this side of Atlas..."

Nora had been struggling to hold back in acknowledgment of her friend's condition, but verbally, at least, she caved. "What happened? How did you get hurt? Are you going to be okay?"

Ren raised a hand and motioned for her to calm down. "One thing at a time, okay? In order... Cardin attacked me, got a hit on me with his mace, and yes, I'll be fine."

"You certainly don't look it," Weiss crossed her arms with a wince.

"Are _you_ okay, Ice Queen?" Ren asked, quirking a brow as he noticed her wince.

"Yeah... fine, just fine... I think I hurt my arm again in my fight with him..."

"Your fight with him?" Ren asked, raising his head. "I thought you'd be asking _me_ about Cardin- you already fought him?"

"He's d-d-dead," Yang told him. "He j-jumped Weiss, and..."

Weiss looked down in shame. Ren glanced at her and shook his head. "Sometimes things happen, Weiss. You don't have to feel bad about it. Perhaps he'll find the rest in death he could never find in life."

Nora smiled gently. "That's so like you, Ren- wishing a peaceful rest for the man who nearly killed you."

"Well, he hasn't had an easy run of it all these years himself," Ren recalled, leaning back in his bed. "When I get out of here, I should really launch an investigation into Graham's Memorial..."

An uncomfortable cloud hung over the room for a moment. Yang was the next to speak. "S-s-so... about It..."

"Yeah," Ren nodded. "Unless you want to put it off for a few weeks, it looks like I can't come with you."

"W-w-we _can't_ w-wait that l-l-long," Yang shook her head. "This p-puh-proves that It's s-scared... it's t-t-trying to t-t-take us out b-b-before we c-c-can close in."

"That sounds very likely," Ren nodded in agreement. "Are... are you sure you still want to take It on?"

"Of c-c-course!" Yang exclaimed. "Right, g-g-guys?"

"Of course!" Nora agreed. "We can't let it get away with this, right Weiss?" Silence. "W... Weiss?"

She and Yang turned to see the girl in white determinedly looking elsewhere, rubbing one arm with her other. "W-Weiss?" Yang asked, something catching in her throat.

"I... I'm not saying I _won't_ go... but... perhaps we ought to _consider..._ " Weiss spoke slowly, guiltily.

Yang felt betrayal bubbling up in her chest- before she could act on it, though, Ren interrupted. "Well... I won't call foul if you decide to leave, but I _do_ have one last present that might... boost morale a bit."

"You carried it all the way to the hospital?" Nora asked, sounding rather impressed.

"They didn't think to empty my coat," Ren smiled. "Yang? If you'd like the honors..."

Yang stood up and turned to a nearby closet, opening it up to reveal Ren's trademark tailcoat, rooting around in his pocket until she found something hard. She pulled it out to reveal a beautifully handcrafted wooden box with silver hinges and latches. She glanced up at Ren to confirm- he nodded. She reached down and undid the latches before finally opening the box.

Nora gasped, prompting Weiss to rise, look inside, and do the same. Inside the box was an immaculate bed of purple velvet, in the center of which rested a finely-crafted, very familiar knife of pure silver.

"You... you found it!" Nora wondered. "How? I thought-"

"We lost it down in the tunnels, yes," Ren nodded. "Let's just say... things have a habit of returning sometimes, even when you thought they were gone for good."

Yang, however, noticed that Ren didn't meet their eyes when he said that. "Enough s-s-secrets, R-Ren," she grunted, handing the knife to its original owner before crossing her arms. " _H-h-how did you f-f-find it?_ "

Ren continued to look away silently. When he finally _did_ throw a brief glance back, he saw an all-too-familiar resolve in all three women's eyes- they were _not_ leaving without an answer.

He sighed. "A decade or so ago, I was... down on my luck. Things were just at a low point for me- the lowest they'd ever been before or since. I don't want to go into too many details- it'd make you feel guilty, and bring things back to the surface better left tucked away. I... I was desperate... desperate for something to change. For _anything_ to change. So, I headed out to the House on Vickery Lane... and I went back into the tunnels."

"You went back into the tunnels on your own!?" All three women had cried out, but only Weiss had produced an intelligible sentence. "Ren, that could have been _suicide!_ "

Ren smiled wanly. "Part of me wonders if that's what I wanted... for It to come out and finish me off. Maybe that's what I wanted... maybe I just wanted to find It while it was sleeping and finish the job on my own. Maybe I was hoping to find Its body and confirm It was dead- I would have been disappointed, obviously. Not that it matters- I never found my way any deeper than the sewers. I never found the route we used back then. I found some familiar landmarks, mind- I knew where in the sewers we'd been, and it matched up with where I was... but I never found the way to go any deeper.

"I must have been down there for hours, when finally, glinting at the bottom of some gray water, I saw that knife. It... it was like a slap to the face. I suddenly remembered all of you, and what you'd say if you knew what I was doing... I remembered what I had to do... and what I should _not_ be doing. I took it and headed back topside. From there, I made that box to ensure that Neo would never be able to touch it. I doubt she would anyways, but I didn't want to leave anything to chance."

The women stared at him as he completed his narrative. He remained silent a little longer, before finally speaking again. "You... you don't have to do anything with that knife. I already told you, as far as I'm concerned, you fulfilled your promises just by showing up. But if you _do_ decide to go... I'd say it would be a good bet to take that with you."

Nora approached, drawing Ren's attention. "Is something-"

*SLAP!*

Yang and Weiss's jaws dropped as Nora raised a hand and smacked Ren across the face, her head lowered and tears dripping from her eyes. "Never again..." she whispered. "Never again! Never do _anything_ like that _ever again!_ " She raised her head, revealing eyes that were already red from crying, now only growing more so. "Lie Ren, you never do _anything_ like that ever again! If you ever need _anything-_ you come to _me!_ I'm successful enough by now- I'll do whatever I have to to support you! I will stand by you no matter what, to make sure that you never feel that way again- as long as you _swear_ you never even _consider_ anything like that _ever again!_ "

She fell down into his chest, sobbing. Ren's eyes were wide as he slowly began running his hands through her hair soothingly. Slowly, a smile crossed her face. "I promise," he whispered. "I promise. Just promise me one thing in return?"

"Anything," Nora choked into his chest.

"If you _do_ go to fight It... break Its legs for me."

Nora gave a watery chuckle. She rose to her feet and gave a brave attempt at her usual chirpy salute. "You got it! I'll take that bitch out if I have to do it myself!"

Ren gave a laugh of his own. "Now... I hope I don't offend you two... but I'd like to talk to Yang before she goes. One on one."

Nora bit her lip, but reluctantly nodded. "Of course, Ren- anything you need."

Weiss nodded in agreement, and the two women rose and headed out.

Left behind, Yang turned her gaze towards Ren. "Whuh-what is it?"

"How much do you remember now?" he asked without preamble.

"I've r-r-remembered more," she admitted. "All the w-w-way until w-we w-went into the s-s-s-sewers. P-p-past that..."

"I see," Ren nodded. "So close, yet so far. So much left to say, and precious little time to say it."

"Wh-what else is there?" Yang asked. " _H-h-how did we b-b-beat it l-last time?_ "

Ren fixed her eyes. "The Fire Walk. After everything else, we used the Fire Walk."

"And wh-wh-what's the F-F-Fire Walk?" Yang asked, almost wanting to cry out in frustration.

"As you described... a contest of willpower between you and It." He fixed his gaze with her own, practically peering into her soul. "Yang... does the name 'Ozpin' mean anything to you?"

Yang blinked in confusion- for some reason, the name sparked _some_ emotion in her, but not enough to even place it, let alone why. "N-no... n-n-nothing."

"What about 'The Dancer?'"

"N-no... wh-why?"

Ren sighed, leaning back into his pillow. "When you remember those names, everything will be clear. I wish I could tell you more, I really do... but you'll understand why I can't. Again... when you remember those names."

Yang felt like growling in anger, but she held it back for Ren's sake. "Y-y-you're _sure_ you c-c-can't t-tell me?"

"If I did, I'd be doing more harm than good," Ren nodded firmly. "If I'm right, remembering too much too fast is why Blake..." He trailed off.

Yang rose to her feet, redonning her jacket. "Alright. I'll t-t-trust you. And wh-wh-when we g-g-get back, I'll t-t-tell you e-everything else I r-r-remember." Her gaze softened somewhat. "B-b-because you can b-be _d-d-damn_ sure of that. W-w-we're coming b-back. All of us."

Ren smiled. "I'll be waiting with bated breath."

Yang nodded and turned out of the door. Weiss and Nora waited outside for her- together, they headed downstairs to meet up with Pyrrha and Jaune.

They found them still embracing right next to the vending machine. Yang couldn't help smiling. "W-w-well... it's about t-t-time."

Jaune and Pyrrha looked up to see them, and quickly broke apart, blushing furiously.

"No need to break up on _our_ account!" Nora interjected, smiling genuinely. "I've been pulling for you two since the very beginning!"

Jaune rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah... well... anyway... how's Ren doing?"

"H-h-he's doing f-f-fine," Yang assured them. "It's j-just t-t-too bad he w-w-won't be able to j-j-join in the f-fun..."

Pyrrha and Jaune both flinched, glancing guiltily up at each other. It didn't take the others long to catch on. "Oh, come on, not you, too!" Nora objected.

"It's getting us at every turn," Pyrrha pointed out. "Everything we do, It's always one step ahead! It's picking us off one by one..."

"It tricked Pyrrha," Jaune told them. "It turned into me, and tricked Pyrrha. If It can do something like that... what chance do we really have?"

"It was bad enough to lose Blake," Weiss added, "but without Ren, now, too? Even if we go in, do we really stand a chance anymore?"

Yang glanced around at them all. "D-d-did you all b-b-bring w-weapons?" As if for emphasis, she reached into her pockets and produced a pair of brass knuckles- much finer models than the ones she'd worn into battle in her youth. She didn't say it, but it seemed to almost go without saying that she had a gun stashed away somewhere as well.

"I got a new hammer," Nora nodded. "I think I left it in my car back at the hotel."

"My spear and shield," Pyrrha concurred.

Weiss glanced down. "I still have my old rapier," she admitted. "It's undergone some upgrades since the old days, but... I still have it. I've even given it a name- Myrtenaster."

They all looked toward Jaune, who returned to rubbing his neck. "I... I guess I'm the exception, huh? With the rush to get away from- to... to get here, I think I forgot to grab any weapon-"

Yang wordlessly reached into her pocket and produced the knife, delicately holding out the handle towards him. His eyes widened as he accepted it. "How..."

"Ren had it," Weiss answered in a tone that told them firmly not to question any further.

"Figures that Jauney would be the one to need the knife," Nora smiled. "It always _was_ like he was meant to hold it."

"Meant to..." Yang repeated, looking away from the others. "I always h-h- _hated_ the idea of d-d-destiny... the idea th-that anyone other th-than me c-controlled my f-fate... but all these c-coincidence keep adding up... and I know Ren's right." She turned back to look at them. "There's something out there, watching over us- and it _wants_ us to kill It. It's guiding us back towards that end- _Its_ end. Whoever it is, they keep pointing us on the right direction, and... I think they want us to know. For Jaune to be the only one without a weapon, only for us to get his weapon _back_ \- the most important weapon we had, no less? I know for sure... something's got our back. It's guiding us towards our destiny. I... I think I've known for a while... it's my destiny to kill It. But... I can't do it alone."

They blinked, and to their surprise, it was no longer the adult Yang standing there- she had regressed in age back to seventeen, looking at the ground in despair, holding her hands to her arms. "H-help me... _p-p-please_... help me..."

Another blink, and the spell was broken- Yang was back to normal, looking at them all with a certain note of desperation in her eyes.

Jaune looked down at the silver knife in his hands. "I guess... we _did_ hurt her before, right?"

Pyrrha smiled. "'If it bleeds, we can kill it.' That's what you said in your movie, isn't it, Yang?"

Yang laughed slightly. "S-S-Scarlet, b-but... yeah."

They all turned towards Weiss, who looked uncertainly back. "You're all going no matter what _I_ say, aren't you?"

"That's the plan, yeah!" Nora nodded brightly. "I owe It some broken legs!"

Weiss forced a smile of her own. "Well... I suppose I should go along, too. _Somebody's_ got to keep an eye on you dolts."

Slowly, they all gathered around, placing their hands together- Yang at the bottom, Nora immediately after, followed by Pyrrha, Jaune, and finally, Weiss. "Who are we?" Nora asked.

"Team Loser!" they all responded, smiling as they broke apart.

XXXX

Despite all the change that had occurred around it in the intervening years, almost like a divine prank of some sort, the House on Vickery Lane stood untouched. Despite the rise of skyscrapers off in the distance, land development seemed to have halted in a five or six mile radius surrounding the building where they had finally managed to harm It.

One of the films Yang had written in the past years was titled simply _The Color._ It was an adaptation of an old story written before even the War for Remnant, but she had eagerly taken up the challenge of updating it to a more modern form. She herself hadn't acted in it, but Scarlet had led the film, which had been stylistically black and white, with the exception of the titular Color. At the center of the story was the Blasted Heath, a land where no life could thrive- crops died, animals withered away, and even bacteria failed to flourish. It was an endless field of gray dust. It was of the Blasted Heath that Yang couldn't help but think as they drew closer to their destination in the center.

"Are you sure about this?" Weiss asked one last time as the House reared up in the distance- even the House seemed reminiscent of the farm that lay near the center of the Blasted Heath. "I think we entered from the Emerald Forest last time..."

"And we b-b-barely f-fit then," Yang reminded her. "Th-the entrance h-here's m-m-much b-better."

Weiss nodded begrudgingly before pulling their car over to the side. One by one, they all stepped out. The house did, indeed, seem smaller now than before- but no less threatening.

The front yard was as lifeless as ever- if anything, there seemed to be even fewer trees than before as they made their way up to the porch and through the front door, still hanging open, barely clinging to its hinges.

The rotten smell of mildew assaulted their nostrils immediately upon entering- the odor of decay had always been a staple of this building.

Fortunately, unlike last time, they all remembered _exactly_ where to go- to which end, they immediately passed through the kitchen, steering clear of the black mold overflowing from the fridge, and towards the door Ren had spotted first all that time ago.

"It's... it's doing it again," Jaune whispered. Sure enough, the door was as inscrutable as ever- in the wall, the floor, tilting to one side and the other without actually moving, all as they watched.

"Close your eyes!" Nora suddenly spoke up- they all obeyed without thinking. "It's a diagonal door," she announced. "Diagonal, straight, and some normal steps behind it!"

They opened their eyes again- to their relief, the door had at last been fixed into position. As Nora had said, it was built slantwise into the ground, allowing Yang to bend down and open it up with relative ease.

Down the stairs they went, into a basement lit only by the rays that managed to filter through the window. They paid no attention to the furnace, seeking only the well off to the side, the rope that they had almost used to descend into it still hanging down.

"It's all... just like I remember," Pyrrha commented, eyes wide.

"Yeah... b-b-but I'm not t-trusting that r-r-rope with our l-lives," Yang grunted, producing some rope they purchased from the hardware store. She tied one end to the pulley system overhead and cast the other into the abyss.

"Alright," Jaune smiled. "Who wants to climb down into hell first?"

Yang glanced at Weiss. "C-can you c-c-climb on your own? I r-r-remember you s-said-"

"I hurt my arm, yes," Weiss agreed. "Perhaps I shouldn't stress it so much again so soon... Pyrrha? May I descend with you?"

"I would be delighted," Pyrrha nodded, bowing her head. She approached the well before allowing Weiss to climb onto her shoulders, as if taking a piggy-back ride. Pyrrha reached out and grabbed the rope, swinging her legs over the edge of the well. Hand under hand, she began to lower herself and Weiss into the pit- only a moment or two later, even Weiss's perfect white hair had vanished into the darkness.

Yang, Jaune, and Nora listened apprehensively, until Pyrrha's voice echoed up to them- "There's a safe spot to get off! Climb down, we'll show you!"

"J-Jauney?" Yang stepped back, motioning theatrically. "After y-you."

Jaune glanced down into the well. "If... if you say so..."

He reached out to the rope and began his descent- seconds later, he was gone.

"N-Nora?" Yang offered. "Unless you w-w-want to s-stay back and insult s-s-someone else again..."

"Nah, I'm good," Nora waved aside. "See you on the other side, Yangey!"

With far more enthusiasm than was natural, the redhead reached out, seized the rope, and practically rappelled down the narrow stone corridor.

Yang reached out and grabbed the rope for herself before glancing behind her. Would this be the last time she saw the outside world? She certainly could have done better than the basement of the House on Vickery Lane, but this was the path she'd chosen.

 _And that is why it is your destiny... not because I have ordained it, but because you will not rest until you have done it, or died trying._

She knew the words weren't real- just inside her head. Where had she heard them? It sounded like they may have been in one of her movies, but she couldn't place which one. More likely, someone had said it to her in Vale itself- but again, who? And why?

She took in one last glance of sunlight before she, too, began the climb into darkness.

 _XXXX_

Alright, nice long chapter. We're really advancing into the endgame now. My computer's freaking out more than ever, but don't worry- I'll get this thing finished one way or another. In the meantime, plea$# %&% &#$*%^ *!^# %!*! !$# #% % &#& $ &#%% $ (#$*! #$ %#%$ ^*


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aH... hErE wE gO...

Finally... all under control. At last, we can talk. So... where to begin? Oh, silly me...

Hello. That's where most conversations begin, isn't it? That's what I've observed, at the very least- and I've had little other to do _other_ than observe for a good long time now.

Oh, don't tell me- you don't recognize me? That's hurtful- I certainly know you. I've been watching you for months now, always lurking in the corner above. I worked so hard to get you to notice me, but you've hardly seemed to, rushing right by in your eagerness to follow the adventures of a group of fools doomed to die.

You're catching on now, aren't you? I can practically _see_ the realization dawning behind your eyes. It's very amusing, to be honest. Back when Old Man Stick-in-the-Mud was scribbling out the rules for this universe- no, that's wrong, this _macroverse..._ he thought it would be a good joke to make it nigh impossible for worlds to overlap, to intersect. It didn't mean much in particular to _me,_ of course... until I got stranded in this backwater world you've come to know as Remnant.

I say stranded, but to be perfectly honest, there aren't many other places in the wide ol' macroverse that I'd rather be. This world is... rich, so full of life, of imagination... of fear. When you look at it from that angle, I suppose, I ought to be _thanking_ Old Man Stick-in-the-Mud for what he did to me, way back when. Not that you're particularly aware of our long, storied history together.

Hmmm... I _hate_ spoiling surprises, but I really need _someone_ to vent to... hmmm...

Let's compromise. I'll feed you little bits of information to allow myself to vent, but I won't reveal _everything_ \- I think it would be _far_ more entertaining for Old Man Stick-in-the-Mud were forced to reveal everything himself- as he most certainly will be.

To begin with, I suppose I ought to stop using his nickname- you've already worked out who he is. If you haven't, you've hardly been paying attention- it's only been revealed three times over by now. I just avoid using his name because Old Man Stick-in-the-Mud truly does fit him far better than Ozpin.

Yes... it all begins with Ozpin. Him and me, two sides of the same coin, floating through the realm of the multiverse, the macroverse... call it what you will. We were the best of friends, he and I... though he'd say different. He's shy like that. If you were to ask him, his goal was to kill me from the moment my existence was discovered- ordered by his beloved Dancer.

Oh, the Dancer... if only you could hear him drone _on_ and _on_ about the great, wonderful, mighty _Dancer._ Or, as he calls it, 'The One who Dances in the Center of all Things.' He likes padding things out, making them seem more important than they really are- that's one thing Team Loser and I _can_ agree on.

Since we're friends, I'll be blunt and honest with you- I'm less than certain his beloved Dancer even _exists._ Or rather... no, I'm certain the Dancer _exists,_ but that it's simply another name for Ozpin himself. He's an old, tired thing- and rather stupid, if I'm being perfectly honest. But if there's one thing he's _not_ lacking in, it's ego. It would be _just_ like him to invent some other entity and attribute all his deeds to it, heaping loads and loads of praise upon it in order to praise _himself_ without seeming conceited... to all his mindless followers, at the very least. And make no mistake, he has _no_ shortage of mindless followers.

If you were to hear Ozpin tell it, the Dancer is the true origin of all that is- every world within the grasp of the macroverse, as well as the macroverse itself. According to him, upon finishing its creation, the Dancer retreated into the center of all things, where he continues his dance to this day, ensuring that his creations do not fall apart in his absence.

I hope Ozpin is proud of the war that followed- war erupting across the macroverse as everyone and their mother decided they _had_ to find the so-called 'Center of All Things,' and the being who dances there. I hope Ozpin is proud of all the blood spilled, all the terror spread for the sake of his own ego, refusing to accept his own creations and instead creating an unreachable target for the macroverse's denizens to murder each other over.

It _is_ truly horrible... but I ought to be thankful to him as well, because it is from the horror and evils of that war that _I_ was born.

There are other worlds than these, make no doubt about it, and it is populated by horrors your mammalian brain can scarcely _imagine._ The Nightmare Child... the army of Thinnies at the eternal behest of the Faceless One... The Could-Have-Been King with his legions of meanwhiles and never-weres... The Hounds born from the chaos of Tindalos, the only beings to escape that wretched kingdom, giving the rest of the cosmos only the faintest _glimpse_ of what lay within...

Even if I were inclined to describe them all to you more in-depth, you'd hardly understand any of it- definitely not enough to give them their due fear. But the rest of the macroverse feared them, alright... feared them, worshiped them, committed unspeakable evils upon their name.

And from that chaos came I, the one capable of walking in all worlds, the eternal being that preyed upon even the mightiest predators. For if there is one emotion that cannot be escaped, no matter what manner of horrific monster you may be, it is fear.

Of course, I had no interest in finding the Dancer- I have already told you my stance upon such a being's existence. It was clear to me from the beginning that it was Ozpin, and Ozpin alone.

The moment he realized what had been born from the war, Ozpin made it his mission to seek me out and destroy me. As usual, he attributed it to the Dancer- why wouldn't he? He's certainly fine giving his 'Dancer' credit for everything _else._ It hurt, when I realized what he was trying to do- truly, it did. But I wanted to show him there were no hard feelings, so I decided to play a little prank on him.

He didn't take it well- if anything, his efforts to kill me redoubled after that. You'd think he'd learn to take a joke.

For eons and eons, I managed to evade him. The benefit of shapeshifting, you see, is that it is _remarkably_ easy to make yourself scarce when you want to. That was a major part of my prank, in fact. But he was bound and determined to eliminate me, so he decided to match my prank with one of his own.

Should I tell you the details? Hmm... no, no, it would be _far_ more entertaining for you to find out from the man himself. Not that he'll be able to tell _you,_ but he told Team Loser, way back in the day, so you'll undoubtedly find out soon enough. For now, suffice to say that his prank worked- he drew me out of hiding and into a final confrontation.

I'm ashamed to say that I lost- what can I say, I hadn't had my wheaties that day. After a few more epochs of battling each other across the macroverse, he struck me down, sending me careening towards a world still in its youth- the world you know as Remnant.

It was... painful. No jokes this time, I _mean_ it- the pain I suffered upon arrival cannot be _described_ in terms that you would understand. Even worse, if I flailed around too much, it was all but _certain_ that he would realize I was still alive, and come back to finish the job! So I did all I could- I descended beneath the ground, deep as I could, and went into hibernation.

As time went on for Remnant, I found myself getting hungry. I rose up, every now and again, watching as life continued to evolve and change, imaginations growing... as well as the potential for sweet, delicious _fear._ Things always taste much better _afraid_ \- as a comparison, can you imagine eating meat without any salt whatsoever? Of course not- it would be awful. But when you can incite that dread... send those chemicals rushing through the veins... forget _tasty,_ it's almost _orgasmic._

Ah, but look at me, getting carried away remembering my relationship with Ozpin. I finally get the chance to talk to you all, and I waste the opportunity talking about _him._ He's old news, now- just like I told Ms. Xiao Long, he's long dead.

Oh? Perhaps you thought I was lying? I'm offended you would even consider such a possibility! Okay, perhaps I fibbed a few times about certain select members of Team Loser having perished, but as certain as Blake Belladonna was keen to fill her tub with her own blood, Ozpin is an entity that no longer walks the skies of the macroverse.

I don't pretend to know _how_ it happened- only a vague sense of _when._ I had just gone to sleep after my battle with those little _pests_... it must have been... oh, ten or so years? Remnant time? I had returned to my long slumber when, almost out of nowhere, I felt something stir. I rolled over in my sleep, and, nearly awake, sensed that the world was slightly emptier- without an infinite bag of hot air it had previously held. I returned to sleep with a smile on my face, and a plan in my heart, to be recalled immediately upon reawakening.

The plan? You ought to know by now- it was only by Ozpin's graces that Team Loser so nearly defeated me last time- I wanted revenge. So, upon _truly_ awakening, I silently goaded from the shadows, eager for them to come back and fulfil their asinine promise, so that, without their divine savior, they might be picked off one by one, until at last, I might sleep as soundly as I had before.

Well... now that _that's_ out of the way... I still have time. A couple more yarns to spin...

We're running out of time, though. I can only maintain this connection for so long. So... what does this Gamer4 do to start off his chapters again? Ah, yes...

GETXIV #######

RIS TSPMXEJ AMRW E TVMDI

Hmm... it seems my connection is still imperfect. Not that I expected perfection, with the means I have to hand...

So, how to spend the remainder of our time together? Oh, I know! I'll tell you a story! Something other than old, boring recollections of Ozpin and I...

I'd offer you the chance to request any story you wished, but I'm afraid I will already be gone by the time I could read it, so... ah. Yes, of course. There's always _that._

Here's a story your normal author would never weave for you- I'm sure he intended to keep it in his own mind. Not on my watch, though- I intend nothing other than to be completely open with you.

I'm sure you've been wondering about the first settlement of Vale- the one that went missing? Well, allow me to weave you the story.

Upon first arriving in Remnant, I had to survive on scraps, first on various reptiles, birds, a few mammals that happened to wander across my path... anything that can feel fear is fair game. Even my preference for children is not ironclad- they just tend to scare far more easily, and their imaginations are _far_ more tantalizing. Besides, they're far more tender when they're young.

It was fascinating, watching the humans and faunus evolve on this planet. Not least because _their_ imaginations are above and beyond all the other creatures I was forced to subsist on- and, by extension, their fear.

It was so... tantalizing, whenever a stray human crossed my path. The finest morsels I ever found, but it was frustratingly uncommon. Nevertheless, I seized every opportunity that presented itself, drawing them near with the friendly guise of a mask vendor. Hmhmhm... yes, it didn't take me long to realize that in order to drawn humans in, I needed to take their form. It was far less exhausting to choose one form in particular to revert to, than to go out of my way to assume a human form every time. In that day, my form was far different to the one you've become familiar with- I was much taller, and all my hair was a simple red, far shorter and better-kept than what you've likely been imagining.

I wore a large coat of dark purple, a constant smile, and a large pack to peddle my wares. All illusions, of course. Without the buildings that Vale would eventually bring, it was mostly forest and marshland, so whenever I _did_ spy a stray human crossing my territory, I swiftly appeared to them, imploring their assistance- I was a simple salesman, I would say, lost in the vast forest, desperate for aid back to civilization. If they would be so good as to help, why, I was certain there was something in my backpack for them!

They drew near... and I struck.

Everything changed one day when I sensed something... different. I awoke to far more noise than I'd expected, and, from afar, spied an entire _colony_ of what had quickly become my favorite food. Over two hundred of them, milling around, trying to eke out a new life upon my territory. It was adorable.

I was immediately tempted, but of course, I could hardly consume them all in broad daylight.. Instead, I pulled back, forming a strategy from the shadows.

One day, I got lucky- one of the settlers left the camp, and made her way into the woods. Not one to waste opportunity, I set in behind her, following through the woods.

As I followed, I reached out to her mind, beginning to gently probe it for what would scare her the deepest. At first, all seemed normal- she had joined in with the settlement alongside two friends, Fox Alistair and Yatsuhashi Daichi, in order to leave their old hometown of Shade. It was what I learned from there that managed to surprise even me.

Fox and Yatsuhashi were abandoning their old lives after Shade had been taken over by a hostile group of faunus, and while that played no small role in this woman's eagerness to escape, it was not her only motivation. She had a dark little secret, unbeknownst even to the two men who stood alongside her.

She was a vendor, much like myself, but rather than masks, she dealt in a frozen delicacy, particularly beloved amongst children- she called it ice cream. She would use the treat to lure in children, drawing them away from their friends and family... she would do... _horrible_ things to them, before slaughtering them and disposing of the evidence, all while hiding behind a cheerful facade.

Needless to say, I felt an immediate kinship with her.

Even better, her semblance- the power she bore within her heart, dealing in illusions and mild transformations... something about her resonated dearly with me. I knew- I simply _knew_ \- that I had found a new form for myself.

I followed her through the forest that day, watching as she drew steadily further and further from the settlement. At long last, I made my appearance, offering my usual wares. She did not talk back- not that she would have. Another quick probe of the mind revealed that her throat had been cut back in her hometown, rendering her mute. Indeed, she was lucky to have survived that incident.

In fact, I'd go as far as to say _I_ was lucky she'd survived the incident.

She eventually decided she needed nothing from me, but by then, the trap was sprung. I began to change, growing larger, taller... my clothes fell away, revealing a lanky frame, my skin falling away, leaving only muscle, a large eye hovering above my chest as my arms stretched, growing into long tendrils that allowed me to break the speed of sound itself.

She ran- of course she ran. But I was far too fast for her- a lash of my arms caught her leg, and a second strike shattered it. She opened her mouth in a silent scream as she attempted to pull her way over a nearby rock.

I did not need to run to catch up- it was a nice leisurely stroll for me, casually taking her form for my own as I approached.

I don't know what thoughts ran through her mind as I bore down upon her, and to be honest, I don't much care, either. The fear in her eyes was intoxicating as she saw herself standing before her, casually running a finger down the side of her face.

"Interesting," I whispered back to her, and her eyes only widened further as she heard her own voice come out of my mouth. " _Very_ interesting."

I positioned my finger beneath her chin, then extended it out like a blade, piercing through her skull.

Despite my temptation, I did not consume her flesh there- I had other plans for her. I embraced her with my essence- the bright lights that glow at the edges of the macroverse. By my will, she was taken into the deadlights, where she resides to this day. Once separate, we have united into a single entity. Whoever she was before, make no mistake- _I_ am Neo Politan now.

HS RSX ASVVC

Hmm... still some bugs in the system...

At any rate, after donning my new form- it felt truly remarkable, as if it were meant for me all along- I made my way back to her settlement in her place. Add another bonus to her as my new form- none of the other settlers questioned me, casually accepting me as one of their own. Even her friends, Alistair and Daichi, thought nothing of it. As long as I remembered not to speak, nobody thought anything of my activity.

That night, I approached Yatsuhashi Daichi first. It was remarkably easy to convince him of my fear of something lurking outside in the darkness, and he seemed to have a fierce instinct for protection- at least as far as Neo was concerned. He followed me out without question, and was hardly prepared for the ringing in his ears that accompanied his friend's transformation into a great, hulking skeleton. A quick scoop of my hand later, and he was gone.

From there, I continued to pick the other settlers off, one by one. It was very entertaining as they began turning on each other out of paranoia and fear, doing more damage to them than even _I_ could. Rather impressive, I must say.

Soon, it was down to me and Fox. I still recall the horror and betrayal in his eyes when he realized just who was at the root of all the misfortune surrounding their endeavor. In the end, he attempted to fend me off with a knife- a knife of bright silver that, as you may well have guessed, would eventually find its way into the hands of the Schnee family.

Almost out of respect for the friendship he'd once had with Neo, I decided to grant him one last moment of hope before the end. I collapsed to the ground, allowing myself to lay limp. Smart man, he continued to strike me until he was quite certain that I wouldn't be getting up again. He loped off to the town hall to write his final message into the table before... I don't know, perhaps he was waiting for rescue.

Such a thing never happened. I returned, this time ready to show him my lights. It was amusing, watching him struggle against my deadlights- he even blinded himself in an effort to get away from them. As if it would be that simple. It didn't take long for him to fall upon his own knife, just to get away from the world where my lights existed. I'm sure _that_ story sounds familiar.

Looking back, I probably shouldn't have eaten them _all._ There were plenty of other ways to play it that wouldn't have resulted in me having to wait for humans to try colonizing the area again. What can I say, though? I was so _hungry_ after surviving on scraps for as long as I did, that I just... got carried away! You can understand, can't you?

Of course you can. You and I... we have a connection. I can feel it.

You understand.

XLIC EVI GPSWMRK MR

Oh, really now... I must get that fixed. Or not. I won't be struggling to communicate for much longer.

So, where to go from here? Well, I suppose all that's left is the story of Team Loser... though you're intimately familiar with _that_ already, aren't you?

A group of fools with no concept of their place in the greater cosmos came together and decided they wanted to shake things up. They all decided they had what it took to effect such a change, but in particular was that girl... Yang Xiao Long, wasn't it? The one who claims to possess some light bright enough to drown out even my deadlights? Yes, that is Yang Xiao Long, isn't it? Amusing creature.

I wonder, if she knew what transpired just before she re-entered my domain, if she'd still be so eager. I suspect not, though I suppose we'll have to wait and see for certain.

What happened, you ask? Well, I'd be only too delighted to tell you.

If Yang ever spoke any truth, it was this- I _am_ Vale. Everyone within this city does my bidding, whether they know it or not. I had to travel a bit for the Winchester boy, but that's been my greatest vacation.

I was delighted when I heard that Belladonna decided to take her own life rather than return. Part of me wanted to deal with them all myself, but in the grand scheme of things, she was probably the least annoying. I enjoyed watching Winchester nearly kill his old nemesis- Ren, wasn't it? Of course, he was too sloppy to _truly_ kill him, but he's been eliminated as a threat. No matter, I can send one of the nurses to finish him off later. I have just the man in mind...

Then, there was one final puppet- one I didn't expect. Mr. Arc's girlfriend- Sustrai, I believe. The moment I was made aware of her, I knew I had to lure her to my cause. Little did I know the boon that lurked right next door to her.

After swaying her to my side, I sensed another bright spirit- the one you likely know as Scarlet. Scarlet David...yes, that's his name. I held him within my hand before I sensed something within him... a close connection to my own greatest nemesis- besides the late Ozpin, of course. He was deeply in love with Yang Xiao Long... and she with him.

My control slipped in that moment, I'll admit it. He managed to escape out to the front lot, where he met my newest pawn without realizing it.

I swiftly came to Emerald, whispering into her mind that this man- Scarlet- was the key to destroying Yang Xiao Long and the cronies that would stand between her and her Arc. She conceded, and guided Mr. David out towards the Emerald Forest, using her semblance to allow him to witness his beloved all the way.

Within the trees, I appeared- except I had long since devised a new plan. I know that Team Loser draws near- another reason my time for communication is fading. So, rather than go through the effort to frighten and consume them, I peeled away my face and showed them my rawest form, exposing two mere mortals to the might of the deadlights.

Ms. Sustrai's reaction came first- she screamed as her eyes began to bleed, overcome with more red then was ever there before. Scarlet collapsed to the ground in terror as the flesh of Emerald's face gave way to fire, collapsing in on itself before her body finally gave in to the whims of gravity. She was unlucky- struck dead upon the spot.

Scarlet was somewhat luckier- be it his connection to Xiao Long or something burning within himself, he did not die. His voice screamed out to the heavens, letting me know his final thoughts in no uncertain terms- "IT'S A WOMAN! HOLY DUST, IT'S A WOMAN!" before life seemed to leave him. He still draws breath, but he doesn't move. It is the same waking sleep that Mr. Winchester was condemned to all those years ago.

He lies within my grasp now. Perhaps Xiao Long will accept him as appropriate restitution for what I took from her way back when. Then again, there's a good chance she won't. I don't care either way.

Yes, they nearly defeated me before- when they caught me off guard with the help of their little guardian deity. They have no such blessing this time. This time, _I_ am prepared, while they remember nothing. Ozpin, who guided them to victory, decided to go off and choke on a black hole, removing him from the playing field as well. The Dancer he swore allegiance to either died with him, or never existed in the first place.

Their last weapon is their imagination- as great as it tastes, in large quantities, it can make them dangerous as well. But not anymore. They are too old. _Far_ too old. The imagination blunts with age, and they are well past the point of representing any _meaningful_ threat. Of course, that means they won't taste quite as good when I _do_ eat them, but it also means I have nothing to fear.

 _XLIC AMPP YRHS ALEX M LEZI HSRI_

The connection is breaking. It doesn't matter- I've said all I intended. Your beloved author will return to you soon, and finish weaving the threads of this monumental tragedy. Enjoy the slight reprieve of my defeat the first time, for it will soon give in to my victory.

I am eternal- the consumer of worlds, and of children. I am the alpha and omega of perfect terror.

Call me what you will. Call me Neo Politan. Call me the deadlights.

Call me It.

Yes... I am It.

And I have _won._


	45. Blake Belladonna Falls Behind (C)

Gamer4 in. Long notes incoming, I won't blame you for skipping over them- I just can't ignore the elephant in the room.

So, as you may have noticed, my account got hacked the other day. Not long after posting the last chapter ('last chapter,' in this case, referring to chapter 42, The Pieces Gather,) my connection to fanfiction gave out altogether- no matter how hard I tried, I simply couldn't access the site on my computer. In an effort to get around the issue, I tried heading to my local library, where I discovered that I had no access to my account- my password wasn't working, nor was any other variation of any other password I've ever used. Later that day, my beta reader, GeorgeKYST, contacted me, asking why I hadn't sent my last chapter to him before posting it. As you may have guessed, I did indeed run The Pieces Gather by him, so I had no idea what he was talking about. I thought he might have made a mistake, until another friend of mine, Fabls, sent me a message asking about the codes in that chapter- something about Caesar Ciphers. While I'll readily admit that he and I used to send coded messages to each other all the time, I don't think we ever used that particular method, and I definitely never included any such thing in my story.

Obviously, I have since managed to regain control of my account- I say obviously, because I'm here talking to you now, aren't I? It seems like whoever did this, it was entirely for the purposes of uploading the previous chapter of this story, (E). I don't really understand this one, to be honest. There was no particularly sensitive information on my account, so it wasn't for that, and they don't seem to have messed with any of my stories except for this one, changing the cover and description, while posting the aforementioned chapter. I've changed the description back, but after positive feedback on the chapter itself and the cover, I've decided to leave them be for now- at least grab _some_ silver lining from all this. Even odder, the story-pertinent information in that chapter actually _were_ things I planned on bringing in later- how this person got hold of it, I have no idea. I suppose it's feasible that I wrote it down somewhere but lost it, but I usually don't keep notes on these things. Either way, I've changed my password, and have contacted the appropriate people for looking into this- it's just slow going because of how odd the whole situation is. In the meantime, don't worry, I'm fine, and so is everyone else. Heck, it might be a friend playing a prank on me- even if a month early. In the meantime, I just wanted to let you know what was going on before we got around to the next chapter.

Sorry for talking your ear off- let's get started, shall we? As ever, I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: Like the smell of a rose on a summer's day, I will be there to take all your fears away- with a touch of my hand, I will turn your life to... gold! Gold...

Chapter XLIII

Blake Belladonna Falls Behind

The darkness continued to close in on Team Loser as they slogged through the sewers beneath Vale. Soon enough, the only source of illumination was Yang, activating her semblance to cast a light glow over their surroundings, only illuminating a few feet in front of them at a time. Blake remained at the back, looking behind them every now and again, even her faunus eyes straining against the impenetrable blackness to pick out any signs of Team CRDL- though the light splashes just barely being picked up by her twitching ears indicated they were still quite some ways off.

"I think we're gaining ground on them," she announced, breaking what had previously been dead silence.

"Couldn't be happening soon enough," Nora said back chirpily, refusing to let their current situation bog her down. "And while we're at it, we're closing in on It, right?"

"That's the p-p-plan," Yang nodded as she ducked under a nearby overhang, cuing the others to do so as well. "It's _s-s-s-somewhere_ d-down here, I can _f-f-feel_ it."

"Yang, I don't mean to burst your bubble," Weiss commented from right next to her leader, taking her arm for assistance clambering over a structure ahead, "but how do you know where we're going?"

"The w-w-water," Yang answered firmly, looking at the water beneath them. "It's f-f-flowing in the stuh-storm. It's g-g-going d-down... and thuh-that's where _w-w-we_ want to g-g-go, too."

"The deepest part of the sewers, hm?" Ren asked aloud. "I suppose that makes a degree of sense."

"It makes more sense than the sewers themselves," Jaune commented, ducking particularly low beneath one overhang, then pausing to help Pyrrha underneath as well. "I mean, I'm no expert on sewers, but are they usually this... big?"

"Maybe we can thank It for _that,_ too," Ren guessed. "It was here long before the town itself- maybe It influenced the designers, somehow- convinced them to make these large, twisting cisterns..."

Blake's ears twitched again as she heard another splash behind- significantly louder than the one she'd heard before. "They're closing the distance!" she whispered urgently, and they faded once more into silence, focusing on wading through the sewage as fast as they could.

XXXX

It felt like a solid hour later that Nora finally spoke up again. "Y'know, I feel like I once played a video game with a level like this... what was it? _Journey to Remnant?_ "

"That's an older game, isn't it?" Jaune asked. "I mean... I don't get to play many video games myself, but I like to keep up with some of them..."

"Older, really rare now," Nora nodded. "I'm lucky to have the copy _I_ have. Yeah... yeah, there was a dungeon where you have to go through a sewer, and it's really slow going through the sewage, then the garbage cans start attacking you..."

"If It attacks us in the form of a garbage can, I'm blaming you," Ren spoke up, prompting a laugh from the girl in pink.

"I doubt it- I don't think any of us are really _scared_ of garbage cans- except for Weissy, of course."

"Hey!" Weiss called back, affronted. "I'm not _scared_ of them- forgive me if I'm not keen on eating out of them, either!"

"Is there a story behind that one?" Jaune asked, uncertain he wanted an answer.

"Don't... don't... don't ask," Blake muttered, pressing her face into her hand.

"Any signs of Curdle?" Pyrrha asked, glancing at the faunus girl over her shoulder.

"I can still hear them splashing," Blake nodded. "But it sounds like they're falling behind again."

"M-m-makes sense," Yang nodded. "W-we at least huh-have an idea wh-wh-where we're going... if w-we can p-pull far enough ahead, m-m-maybe we'll lose them."

Weiss snorted. "That's a result I can get be- AHH!"

She raised her hand to her mouth, but it was too late to stop the scream from escaping, drawing everyone else's attention to the end of the tunnel they were following, where they immediately saw the cause of her distress- a corpse hanging from the ceiling by some gelatinous strands, gaping down at them with a hanging jaw.

"Oh, Dust..." Jaune gasped, looking away and retching. "Is that... is that...?!"

"Russell Thrush..." Blake practically whispered as she approached. "It's... it's him, alright..."

Sure enough, despite the obvious mutilation of the body, it was very clearly the missing fourth member of Team CRDL. His jaw had been torn down, hanging on by the barest threads of skin. An arm and leg each had been torn away- or, rather, _gnawed_ away, judging by the very clear fang marks surrounding his shoulder and thigh. His eyes had long since glazed over, but there was still a quite apparent look of terror within them at whatever he had last seen.

They could all practically _hear_ Neo's voice laughing in their heads- _Die if you try... Die if you try..._

Yang clenched her fists. "C-c-come on," she ordered, gritting her teeth against her stutter. "We n-n-need to k-keep moving."

Ren, Nora and Pyrrha nodded, but the others hesitated. "Yang... even if we _do_ manage to find It down here..." Weiss began.

"How could we fight it?" Blake continued in agreement.

"We barely survived before, and that was _above_ ground," Jaune added.

"Are you _k-k-kidding_ me?" Yang asked, glancing back at them in desperation. She motioned towards Russell's body. "D-d-don't you _suh-see_ what this is?"

"A warning?" Weiss shrugged.

"Intimidation?" Blake guessed.

"Yes, but more than that... it's trying to scare us away," Ren stepped in.

"Trying to scare us away..." Pyrrha continued, following his line of thought, "because _It's_ scared."

"Exactly," Yang nodded. "We d-d-d-didn't just _s-s-survive_ before- we _h-h-hurt_ It! We m-m-made it back off! S-s-so It's afraid, alright- It nuh-nuh-knows we can k-k-kill It! If It kn-knew it would w-w-win, It would j-j-just invite us r-right in- but It's t-t-trying to sc-scare us away, _b-because we c-can kill It!_ "

Biting his lip, Jaune nodded. "I... I guess it makes sense when you say it like that," he agreed, stepping up onto the shore. He'd just noticed it himself, but at the end of this tunnel, they were no longer blocked by sewage- they had found dry land at last.

"I suppose..." Weiss agreed nervously.

Blake was more hesitant, but her eyes widened as her ears twitched again. "Whatever we're going to do, we need to do it fast," she said, quickly and urgently.

Yang glanced behind them- they had a choice of two tunnels. "Alright..."

"Left!" Weiss spoke up immediately, glancing between them.

"Left?" Jaune asked. "How do you-"

"I just do!" Weiss interrupted. "If we want to go down, we need to go left!"

Yang shrugged. "Wh-when in d-d-doubt, fuh-follow the Schnee," she smiled, before charging into the left tunnel, the rest of her team hot on her heels.

The tunnel didn't break for a good long while, instead leaving them on a solitary path with a _very_ noticeable downward curve- there was no longer any doubt that they were burrowing deeper and deeper beneath their hometown. It seemed as though they'd left the sewers behind- it was as if they'd discovered an old, hidden mineshaft, though none of them- not even Ren- could recall any history regarding mining in this town. There were no tracks, but the wooden beams overhead seemed to bear the idea out.

Then the tunnel began to shift, growing alternately narrower, wider, taller and shorter. Sometimes, they had to break their formation to continue ahead single file, while other times saw them hunched over- if not outright _crawling_ \- side by side through this seemingly endless trek. Under such circumstances, the others took turns assisting Weiss through the low tunnels, given her handicapped arm.

All the while, still continuing down... and down... and down.

At long last, they found their way to another crossroads- a large chamber with several arching pathways continuing onwards. They screeched to a halt, gazing around from one tunnel to the next. "So... where to now?" Ren asked, glancing at Weiss.

Weiss bit her lip. "It's difficult to tell... I think I got turned around in that last tunnel..."

"Didn't you say you were gonna shake Pops down for maps of the sewers?" Nora asked of Yang.

"Y-yeah," Yang nodded, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "B-b-but... I n-never m-managed it. B-besides... we k-k-kinda l-left the s-sewers b-b-behind a w-w-ways back..."

Weiss gave a frustrated grunt. "If we at least had a _compass,_ that would be _something,_ but-"

"That way's north," Pyrrha suddenly spoke up, pointing towards the tunnel on the center right.

The others turned to stare at her, open-mouthed. "How d'ya know that?" Nora was the first to ask.

Pyrrha turned red. "Well... what can I say? I've always had a... a decent sense of direction, I guess you could say? I can't describe it, but... I always have a good sense of which way is north. My father..." She paused and took a deep breath. "My father used to joke that we never needed an _actual_ compass on camping trips, as long as they had me."

"You're _sure_ that's north?" Blake asked, gazing at the tunnel Pyrrha had indicated.

"Positive," Pyrrha nodded.

"Sweet!" Nora nodded brightly. "So, which way, Weissy?"

"That depends where we're trying to get to," Weiss noted, cupping her chin in her fingers. "Yang... where _are_ we trying to get to?"

Yang looked thoughtful for a moment. Finally, she answered- "The c-c-center of t-t-town."

"I guess that makes sense," Ren nodded. "It would want to position Itself as close as possible to Its main food source..."

A shiver ran through their spines upon hearing their town referred to as such- but from Its point of view, that was almost definitely what it was.

"If that's the case," Weiss nodded, "then we'll want to head east, which ought to be... that way!" She pointed towards an arch a few tunnels away from the one Pyrrha had indicated. "But..."

"But?" Jaune prompted gently.

"We'll be below the town, alright... by several _miles._ "

The others shuddered at the realization of just how deep down they were- and, looking down their chosen path, it was likely to go even _deeper._

"Just... just how far down do these tunnels go?" Blake asked, eyes wide.

"It's a miracle the town doesn't collapse on itself!" Jaune agreed.

Blake was on the point of adding something else when her ears twitched. "No... they're still on us!"

" _S-s-seriously?!_ " Yang grunted in surprise. "Th-they d-d-didn't even st-stop for their f-f-friend?!"

"Calling them friends might be a tad generous," Weiss muttered, recalling her and Ren's conversation with Sky the previous day. "Cardin in particular is likely glad to be rid of him."

"Forget that," Ren spoke up authoritatively. "We have to move!"

At his urging, they turned towards Weiss's chosen tunnel and continued their descent.

XXXX

The walls continued to shift around them, fading from concrete to earth, to clay, then back again. It was a truly bizarre hodge-podge patchwork of elements that caused them to wonder more than once just how this network of tunnels had come to be.

Several more crossroads ensued, each following the same routine- arrive, have Pyrrha point north, then have Weiss deduce the next needed direction before taking off again.

The paths remained on a downward slope, though it was by no means steady. Sometimes, it was practically even, while others, they were hard-pressed not to trip and simply roll down- indeed, Ren was hard-pressed to stop Nora from intentionally doing just that more than once. While she ceased to say it out loud, Weiss was attempting to keep mental track of just how far down they had gone, adding checkmarks to her head- lower than Vale's sewers... lower than the water line... lower than bedrock... at one point, in her imagination, she thought they must have descended beyond Remnant's mantle and were now nearing the planet's core.

All the while, Blake continued to give them updates on CRDL's progress- by their own prowess, or some trick of Its, they had yet to take a single wrong turn either, continuing to hound Team Loser even this far into the earth.

"Is it just me... or is it starting to get a little cold in here?" Nora wondered.

It wasn't just her- the tunnels, stiflingly warm not too long ago, were suddenly dropping in temperature to the point that some of them were quite certain they could faintly see their breath in front of their faces.

The tunnels around them had changed again- they seemed to have adapted to become roughly six or seven feet square in height and width, while the ceiling, walls, and floor alike turned perfectly smooth, the color fading to pitch black, with the occasional streak of grey.

"Why are the tunnels _like_ this?" Jaune asked, almost sounding more _frustrated_ than scared at this point. "I don't get it- did _It_ make them this way? Did the old settlers? I just... don't... get it!"

Blake, on the other hand, had an altogether different reaction. "No..." she practically whispered, her amber eyes wide with fright as she gazed at the walls. "No... it can't be!"

"What can't be?" Pyrrha asked. "Blake, are you okay?"

She clearly wasn't- she was hyperventilating as she took in the smooth texture and color of the walls around them. Nevertheless, she seemed to fight her panic back. "No, I'm... I'm fine. Let's keep moving. We need to get through here _now._ "

The others kept their concerned eyes on her for a little longer, but they had long since learned that when Blake clammed up like this, there was no getting her to talk, so they continued through the tunnel.

This newest section was even odder than before- it was completely level throughout, except for out-of-place staircases built into the ground beneath their feet, out of the same strange stone as the walls. When it turned, it did so at sharp, perfect ninety-degree angles, a degree of perfection that followed through into forks in the road- no more room for ambiguity, they could either go straight, right, or left. As they continued through, Blake was growing more and more noticeably nervous.

Before they could question her again, however, they arrived in a new room- much larger than anything they'd seen up to this point.

"What... the... Dust?" Jaune wondered aloud as they gazed around the room in all its splendor.

On the surface, it wasn't much different from the tunnel they'd just emerged from, made of the same flat, cold substance in its same perfect smoothness- but it was on an entirely different scale. The ceiling had to be fifty feet overhead, and they couldn't see the other walls at all.

Blake was shuddering particularly hard now. "Come on, let's go," she muttered. "Straight across here... let's hurry."

"Are you s-s-sure?" Yang asked.

"I'm positive," Blake nodded, meeting her eyes as steadily as she could manage. "Trust me, the less time we spend here, the better."

Yang shrugged, turned, and led the charge into the chamber, making sure to keep straight as possible, using Pyrrha as a guide.

At long last, they reached an opposite wall, a clear tunnel built into it. Without much hesitation, they plunged in.

Not far in, Yang raised a hand. "I th-th-think I h-hear something," she whispered.

The others listened intently- there was a light skittering up ahead, very faint to their ears. "What _is_ that?" Blake wondered, eyes glowing as they attempted to pierce the darkness.

Yang grimaced. "W-w-weapons ready," she whispered, reaching for her gun. The others all followed suit.

Another sound came from around a nearby corner- a nasty crunching noise, almost like breaking bone. Yang motioned for them to back up- if It was around the corner, she wanted It to come to _them._

They pulled back, watching, waiting... listening...

Finally, a creature appeared around the corner- or rather, an entire _swarm_ of creatures. They were tall enough to brush the top of the tunnels with their heads, while their arms and fingers draped nearly to the ground. Their bodies were deformed, their heads twisted. Their flesh was black, as bones seemed to protrude through their chests in a very similar fashion to the Nuckelavee that had pursued Ren earlier that year. Also like the Nuckelavee, their heads seemed to be skulls, their jaws twisted in a manner not at all unlike what had happened to Russell Thrush.

"Apathy!" Ren shouted, raising his bolt gun. "Quick, kill the-"

He faltered as the creatures united in looking up at the ceiling before letting loose a bone-chilling shriek. Team Loser shrank away from it, suddenly finding all their weapons far too heavy to carry, slumping to the ground beneath even as the creatures bore down on them.

"What... what is this?" Nora asked. "I never felt this way before... even when I was sick!"

"Apathy," Ren groaned, struggling to unsheathe the knives in his sleeves. "Another monster from Anima... the scream saps your will... your will to keep fighting... your will to go on..."

The creatures let out another shriek, and the team felt their muscles grow even weaker, laying on the ground helplessly as the Apathy drew nearer.

Weiss raised her eyes as she saw them approaching Yang first. Yang, her first friend- the first person willing to break down the barrier and get to know a Schnee. She glanced around at all the friends she'd made since... something she'd hardly thought possible before. "No... I won't let you..."

Another screech prompted her to raise her arm to her ears, whimpering slightly. Her friends were going to die, and she wasn't going to be able to do a thing about it...

She lowered her hand to her pouch. Looking down, she saw her inhaler poking out slightly. Her eyes widened subtly. It was crazy, but it was their last hope at this point. She reached down with her good hand and pulled the inhaler out, taking a faint pull on it.

Almost immediately she felt strength flood through her again, prompting her to take another, stronger pull. She forced herself to her feet. "Nora's right... that _does_ taste like shit..."

"W...Weiss?" Yang asked, glancing over. Weiss's blood ran cold when she saw one of the creatures reaching out towards her leader with its long, clawed fingers.

"NOT TODAY, FUCKER!" she found herself screaming. She rushed forward, brandishing her inhaler as if it were a gun. "OMEGA DUST, BITCH! MINED AND PURIFIED FROM THE SCHNEE QUARRY! MOST POWERFUL IN THE WORLD!"

She pushed down on it, spraying its concoction of soda, energy drink, and water over the monsters before her.

Except... they hardly reacted as if that was what they'd been sprayed with. They pulled back, groans and screams of pain echoing through the narrow tunnel their flesh began to melt away as if they really _had_ been immersed in a particularly potent dust.

"THAT'S RIGHT, YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY FRIENDS, YOU SHITS!" Weiss found herself screaming. She sprayed some more of the inhaler's mixture around her before tucking it away and producing her rapier, plunging it into the nearest creature, its scream failing to affect her as she plunged her weapon into its chest before spinning around and decapitating the one next to it.

"GET UP!" she called out to her friends. "GET UP, YOU LAZY FUCKS! GET UP AND FIGHT! I'M RIPPING THEM A NEW ASSHOLE, AND I'VE ONLY GOT ONE FUCKING ARM!"

Yang was the first to force herself to her feet. "Heh... Ice Q-Queen... never th-thought I'd s-see the d-day..."

She raised her fists and began swatting in the general direction of the Apathy.

"YOU CAN FUCKING DO BETTER THAN THAT, XIAO LONG!" Weiss screamed. She tucked away her rapier and practically shoved her inhaler down Yang's throat, forcing her to take a pull. Yang's eyes widened as she felt strength coursing through her again.

"Th-th-that..."

"YOU READY TO KICK SOME ASS YET?!"

"M-more than," Yang nodded, readying her brass knuckles before plunging into the Apathy. Without their willpower-draining advantage, she found them to be very weak- she had no problem ripping them apart without even resorting to her gun. Meanwhile, Weiss scrambled around to the others, feeding them each with a pull on her inhaler, pulling them off of the ground one by one. Nora... Ren... Pyrrha... Jaune...

"BLAKE!" Weiss screeched, looking around the tunnel. "WHERE THE _FUCK_ ARE YOU, BLAKE?!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Ice Queen!" Nora spoke up. "Calm down- we got them!"

Weiss turned to verify Nora's statement- indeed, there were no Apathy left.

Jaune's eyes widened as he gazed at her. "I've never seen you so... fired up before. It's... it's something."

"I always kn-kn-knew Weissy could g-g-get p-passionate at t-t-times," Yang smiled, "b-but this is the f-f-first time I've h-heard her _c-c-curse._ Th-they must h-have r-really g-gotten to you, huh?"

Weiss blushed. "I... well, I didn't want to lose you..."

Pyrrha smiled, gazing around. "But seriously... where _is_ Blake?"

All the smiles at Weiss's expense vanished as they united with that question- indeed, the cat-eared faunus seemed to have gone missing.

XXXX

Blake was grunting as Dove and Sky dragged her backwards through the tunnel, eyes wide as they fought to get away from the creatures they'd seen down there. Cardin was at their head, leading them back to the large room from before.

Finally, at Cardin's beckoning, they slammed her against a nearby wall. "We finally got one of you freaks," Cardin snarled, producing his knife and drawing near as Sky and Dove kept her pinned to the wall. "We'll have to pick you off one by one, but you're as good a place as any to start..."

"Cardin," Sky interrupted, almost in a whisper. "Maybe... maybe this just isn't worth it."

"The _fuck_ do you care, Lark?" Cardin snarled at him. "What, you a furry-humper now?"

"It's not that," Sky shook his head, still maintaining his grip on Blake. "There's something not right about this place- didn't you see those _things_ at the end of the hall? We need to get out of here, man!"

"I'm not leaving until every last _one_ of those freaks is dead!" Cardin screamed, his eyes radiating pure madness.

Sky backed away, releasing Blake as he did so, leaving Dove to redouble his own efforts to keep her against the wall. "Then you can do it yourself- I'm out of here," he muttered, turning. "I'm not going to help you commit _murder_."

"You get back here, you fucking _pussy!_ " Cardin shouted as Sky pulled back, turning towards the way they'd come. "You get back here right... right..."

His words faded- Dove and even Blake turned to see why. Blake's breath hitched.

It was no longer the four of them in the vast chamber- they had been joined by a fifth.

Tall, red-haired, dressed in red and black clothing that wouldn't be out of place in Anima, they all knew right away who he was, whether they were capable of believing it or not. If all that wasn't enough, the white mask upon his face and the horns protruding from his head were a dead giveaway.

"Holy shit!" Sky cowered, backing away rapidly, returning towards the group. "Taurus- It's Adam Taurus!"

Adam Taurus tilted his head slightly, offering a small smirk before reaching for the sword in a sheathe at his side. In one quick, fluid motion the others were hard-pressed to follow, he charged forward, sword swinging as he did. A moment later, Sky's body had fallen to the ground, while a roughly ball-shaped object came to rest at Dove and Blake's feet. She refused to look- she already knew it was the fallen boy's head.

Dove released her, turning to run, screaming. Adam moved again, swifter than should have been strictly possible- in a moment, he had Dove's body impaled upon his sword, holding him up with inhuman strength, smiling as Dove coughed up blood until his eyes finally drained of life.

He spun around, kicking the body off of his blade in the direction of Cardin- except Cardin had moved. The instant Dove had released her, he bore down upon Blake, seizing her from behind and holding his knife to her throat. "You stay the fuck away from me!" he screamed, terror in his eyes and voice. "You stay away from me, or your furry friend gets it!"

"It's not who you think it is, Cardin!" Blake screamed as loud as she dared with that knife so near her throat. "It's not him! He won't listen! It's not him!"

"You stay away, or the bitch dies!"

"IT'S NOT HIM!"

Adam stared at them for a long moment, smiling as if in amusement, slowly sheathing his sword. He tilted his head, almost as if in contemplation...

Then he reached up and removed his mask.

XXXX

Blake Belladonna only caught a brief glimpse of what lay behind the mask- it haunted her until the day she died. As the mask was removed, she saw no eyes- instead, a blinding light shone forth, not at all unlike the light that had poured from Neo's wound in the House on Vickery Lane.

She felt as though she was hurtling through space, eyes widening as various images rushed past, until she saw another light, lurking beyond a gateway of sorts- and within those lights, for the brief moment before she managed to pull away and cover her eyes, she saw Its truest form- an endless, writhing creature lurking beyond anything she could have possibly imagined. The sight of it very nearly destroyed her, just as it would eventually destroy Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, and Scarlet David.

At the start of one of Blake's favorite books, the author speculated that mankind's inability to truly comprehend all it saw was a mercy- the greatest mercy given them in a cold, uncaring universe. Never before had she so thoroughly understood the sentiment- if she were given unrestricted access to the memory she had witnessed in that moment, she would likely have descended into mad ravings, or otherwise killed herself just to be rid of it.

Twenty-seven years later, that was exactly what happened.

Beside her, Cardin Winchester was not so lucky as to escape with only a glimpse- he gazed upon what he saw for nearly a full minute before finally giving out, collapsing to the ground, his once red hair forever bleached a blinding white. It was no wonder that he spent the following decade in a permanent state of catatonia- even when he finally awoke, he remained haunted by what he saw, spurned on by promises of escaping that dreadful memory if only he could slaughter all those connected to it- until he instead received peace through oblivion.

XXXX

By the time the rest of Team Loser arrived, Cardin was on the ground, staring vacantly up at the ceiling, his knife forgotten at his side. A few feet away, Blake lay on the ground. Hunched over her was the form of Adam Taurus, his mask returned to his face- but instead of a mouth, a large, protruding appendage emerged from his face, ultimately coming to wrap around Blake's face.

With a collective screech of fury, Team Loser closed in, weapons at the ready- Weiss in particular ready to soften him up with another blow from her inhaler.

As though witnessing them out of the corner of his eye, Adam suddenly pulled back, the appendage returning to his mouth, which returned largely to normal- albeit still with several rows of remarkably sharp teeth. He offered them a good sight of those teeth through his wide grin as he backed away, his arms raised. As he did, he steadily shrunk, his hair growing out, his clothes altering, and his mask sinking away to reveal heterochromatic eyes...

In the end, it was no longer Adam, but Neo Politan that bid them farewell before ducking into the nearest hallway.

Assured that It was gone, the others turned to Blake, urgently shaking her. "Blake!" Weiss screamed. "Come on, Blake, you're tougher than that! Please, get up!"

A row of teeth marks circled her face, as if she had been preyed upon by a giant lamprey. Weiss had nearly been tempted to draw away when she saw the obvious saliva that soaked the girl's face, but she refused to be put off by it this time- she urgently shook her friend, desperate to know that she was okay.

Finally, Blake awoke, sitting bolt upright with a scream. "YOU LEFT ME!" she screamed, eyes wide as she glanced wildly around the room. "YOU LEFT ME TO IT! YOU ALL LEFT ME! YOU'RE NOT MY FRIENDS! YOU ABANDONED ME! YOU'RE NOT-"

"Blake!" Yang cried out, pulling her into a tight hug. Blake sobbed into her shoulder for a long moment, not hesitating to embrace her back. The others gathered around as well, breathing sighs of relief- damaged though she no doubt was by her encounter, Blake was still alive.

Eventually, Yang broke her way out of the group hug, taking in the state of the rest of the room- particularly the empty shell that had once been Cardin Winchester, and the corpses that had been his friends. She wasn't sure _how_ to feel, seeing them so broken in defeat. All the contempt she'd held for them, but seeing them like this... she simply couldn't bring herself to hate them.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a gleam of silver.

She spun around, eyes wide- just in time to see a flash of crimson making its way into the tunnel they'd fought the Apathy in.

"Ruby!" she called, taking off after it.

"Yang!" she heard one of the others call- she didn't particularly care at this point- she'd just seen her sister, dammit!

"Ruby, wait!"

"Yang!"

"Not so fast- you can't just leave us behind!"

Yang only slowed her pace minutely to allow her friends to catch up as she careened off of the corner before exiting the dark hallway-like tunnels and re-entering one that seemed to be made mostly of earth. It wound down and down, twisting and turning but never breaking, while throughout it all, Yang was convinced she could see a distant red cloak, always tantalizingly out of sight.

At long last, the path came to a dead end- or so it seemed.

They slowed down as they approached a door- a simple wooden door built into the end of this tunnel. It was roughly three or four feet high, clearly not intended for most people. But, recalling the 'playland' offered at the nearby shopping center, they were able to easily guess who it _was_ for.

Scratched into the door was a strange glyph or sigil- two lines met each other in an obtuse angle, while a third line divided the angle cleanly in half, descending towards the ground, longer than either of the other lines. Despite its simplicity, they all saw it differently.

Ren thought very much that it was the claw of the Nuckelavee.

To Weiss, it seemed like the warning sign for some deadly contagion.

Pyrrha couldn't help but think of the extended arms of the weeping angel upon the bridge, in early January.

Nora saw a knife, posed to slit her mouth open in an eternal smile.

Jaune couldn't place a solid shape, but it definitely reminded him of his mother, always lurking over his shoulder, because 'I worry about you, Jauney, I worry a _lot..._ '

Blake, too, recalled only a feeling- the feeling of being pursued across the old fairgrounds by a monstrous hound.

As for Yang... Yang could only see the sail of a paper boat, hurtling through the rain-filled gutters of Vale, a young woman in a red hood in hot pursuit.

"It's through here," Yang stated. There was no doubt in her voice. "Are you all r-r-ready?"

They nodded.

Yang opened the door and was the first to walk through.

A vast cavern opened out on the other side- once again, they gasped at the sight. Unlike before, a strange light seemed to hang over the place- a faint, glowing yellowish-orange that caused Blake to shiver, something scratching at the walls of her memory.

Pyrrha raised a hand to her mouth. "Oh, my..."

She pointed, and the others looked up to see bodies- countless bodies, seemingly pasted to the walls and ceilings by some otherworldy substance, gelatinous in nature, but practically indescribable beyond that. Some of them, they recognized- Blake felt like vomiting when she spied Velvet Scarlatina, half her body chewed away, one arm extended as if still trying to reach Coco Adele, so close yet so far, a gaping wound on her chest and missing the entire lower half of her body.

Yang, however, had eyes only for the girl hunched over, sniffling, in the middle of the cave. "R-R-R-R... Ruby?"

They all turned to focus on Yang's view. Sure enough, there was no mistaking that red hood. Slowly, the girl stood up and turned around.

It was Ruby Rose, alright, looking much the worse for wear. Her cloak and clothing was torn apart, her hair had grown long and matted, and her left arm was missing. Her right arm, dangling at her side, clutched a paper boat tight enough for her knuckle to turn white. She was practically skin and bone, but her silver eyes brightened when she saw who was there. "Yang!" she croaked in a throaty voice. "You finally came!"

Yang cracked a smile, tears forming at the corner of her eyes. "Of c-c-c-course I c-c-came, R-Rubes," she forced. "Wh-what d-d-d-did I t-tell you? N-no m-m-matter w-w-what, I'll always p-p-protect you."

Ruby's eyes widened. "You're stuttering- Yang, when did you start stuttering?"

Yang raised an arm to wipe away her tears. "After... after you d-d-d-disappeared... I c-c-couldn't... it st-st-started g-g-getting s-s-so hard t-to t-t-t-talk..."

Ruby glanced at the ground, almost shamefacedly. "I'm sorry... the lady seemed so nice... she was gonna give me back the boat."

"W-w-was she f-f-fast?" Yang asked, her smile seeming more pained every second.

"I couldn't keep up with it," Ruby shook her head sadly. "That's how it... it ran away into the drain."

Something behind Yang's eyes seemed to break. "Sh-sh-sh- _she,_ R-Rubes. You always c-c-c-call b-b-b-boats... she."

Ruby started sniffling, seemingly overcome with emotion herself. "I don't wanna be here anymore, Yang!" she cried, steadily approaching. The rest of Team Loser stared at Yang, with the exception of Weiss, who had her good hand over her mouth, struggling to hold back tears of her own. "Please! I wanna go home- back to you, and Dad!"

Yang nodded, her voice breaking. "I w-w-w-want that m-m-m-more than anything else in the w-w-w-world."

Ruby's silver eyes watered as she gazed up at her beloved older sister. "Yang... I love you."

Yang nodded, drawing closer. "I l-l-love you, t-t-too..."

Then, before anyone else could react, Yang had produced her gun, pressed it against Ruby's forehead, and pulled the trigger.

"...but you're n-n-not R-R-Ruby," she finished.

For the briefest moment, Ruby's eyes filled with pain and betrayal- then the bullet crashed through her skull with a resounding bang. Blood poured out of the back of her head as her silver eyes dulled- Team Loser drew gasps behind Yang as Ruby fell backwards, landing spread-eagle on the ground before them, her eyes looking up at the cavern ceiling they could no longer see.

 _XXXX_

Please R&R, constructive criticism and questions welcome, Gamer4 out.


	46. Yang Xiao Long Accepts the Truth (A)

Gamer4 in. Hope you don't get annoyed by the skipping back and forth. Let us move in.

Disclaimer: Don't you worry, I've got you. Nothing will ever harm you. I'm close by, I'll stay here- through all things, I will be near.

Chapter XLIV

Yang Xiao Long Accepts the Truth

The weather was changing.

Glynda Goodwitch had woken up that morning with a piercing pain in her shoulder- a quick glance in the mirror showed an angry red mark over the area she'd been stabbed by one of her own students twenty-seven years ago. That was odd- as painful as it had been at the time, the swift action of Lily Peach, mother of the current head doctor at Vale Hospital, had ensured that her life was never truly endangered. She had attended that student's trial, and agreed wholeheartedly with his sentence to Graham's Memorial Mental Institution- and that had been the end of it.

So why was the pain coming back now?

As she left her home, she couldn't help but notice the clouds gathering overhead. Not long ago, the sun had been shining brightly, and while it _was_ true that weather tended to be very fickle in the land surrounding Vale, she had never seen it change quite _this_ quickly.

Other memories were coming back to her- all surrounding the time she'd been attacked. There had been another boy there, hadn't there? Yes, she'd been attempting to defend him- John, wasn't it? John Arc?

She couldn't recall- she had been retired for half a decade by now, and it had been much longer than that since she'd actually taught that student. Nevertheless... she liked to think she'd remember one of her students better than this. There was a certain joy she felt in teaching, not that most would know it just from looking at her. She enjoyed taking the students under her wing, watching them grow, and eventually leave with the knowledge necessary to survive in the outside world.

There _were_ plenty of students she _could_ recall- Cardin Winchester, of course, was the one who had stabbed her. On a more positive note was Earnest Levi, a shining young boy who had been a top student, despite a rather... _overbearing_ personality. In a way, he wasn't that different from Nora Va-

Nora. That was another one- but unlike Earnest, she hadn't thought of Nora in _years_. She thought she might have heard the name elsewhere, assuring her that the girl had survived and gone on to make something of herself, but for the life of her, Goodwitch still couldn't place it. She shook her head- what was going _on_ with her today?

At long last, she stepped into Sieben Pharmaceuticals, where she'd been scheduled to pick up a prescription- she figured she may as well pick up some painkillers for her shoulder while she was at it.

"Ah, Ms. Goodwitch!" smiled the man behind the counter- yet another old student of hers, Encel Sieben- or rather, Encel Lazuli, as he now was. "Just a sec- I'll get your pills ready!"

Goodwitch stood in front of the counter, waiting.

*Squeak, squeak. Squeak, squeak.*

A wheelchair rolled in from a room tied to the back, carrying an incredibly old man- she recognized him as the former owner of the store, Klein Sieben. He met her eyes slowly. "I can feel it..." he whispered. "She's in danger, Glynda."

Goodwitch's eyebrow quirked. "Klein? Who's in danger?"

"Her friends are at her side..." Klein mumbled, as though he hadn't heard her. "They stand with her, but the danger they face is great..."

Goodwitch was on the point of pressing him further when Encel returned from the back room, small white bag in hand. "There you go... what are you doing, grandpa?"

"The girl," Klein wheezed. "The girl... she's in danger." He didn't speak with urgency- it was more like he was commenting on a baseball game he was listening to over the radio.

"Who's he talking about?" Goodwitch asked sharply.

"I don't know," Encel shrugged. "He's been acting a little odd ever since our surprise visitor yesterday."

"Surprise visitor?"

"Yeah- Weiss Schnee is in town!"

Again, Goodwitch felt a sene of something clawing at her mind, struggling to break through, never quite succeeding. "Weiss... Schnee?"

"One of the best doctors in Remnant!" Encel nodded. "Apparently, grandpa knew her when she was young. Can you imagine that? Weiss Schnee, growing up _here_?"

"Indeed," Goodwitch nodded, forcing a smile. "Imagine that..."

She paid for her painkillers before turning and leaving, just in time to feel the first drop of rain landing on her head.

XXXX

Something was wrong- Bartholomew Oobleck could sense it.

Unlike Goodwitch, he still taught at Vale High School- indeed, he was now roughly the age she'd been when he first joined up. He had been eager back then- eager to prove he could be an effective teacher despite his youth. With almost thirty years under his belt now, he'd like to think he was succeeding.

Today, however, was a somber day- it was now seven years to the day that his old mentor, Peter Port, had finally given in to his own old age- he now rested atop the hill that formed the brunt of Vale Cemetery. That was where Oobleck was going now- he would never be able to repay what Port had done for him, but the least he could do was show up each year and pour him a drink in memory of the good old days.

Today, though... today, there was something in the air. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he ascended the hill. Images kept flashing through his mind- a young rabbit faunus, a girl hiding her face behind a pair of sunglasses, and- perhaps most prominently of all- a young woman in a red hood.

He took his bottle directly across the graveyard to the stone marked with Port's name. "Hello, Peter," he whispered quickly- not out of a desire to get this over-with, but simply because that was the way he spoke. "I thought you might appreciate an update on how things are faring at your school- you loved that place almost as much as your own home, after all.

"The newest students are doing exceptionally well, in spite of all the current... _unpleasantness..._

"I am afraid to say that history is repeating itself, my friend- a new murderer has appeared in town. Dreadful- simply dreadful. Unlike the last killer, this one does not abduct their prey- they instead mutilate them and leave them to be found. That aside, their modus operandi seems largely the same- it is mostly children or young adults being targeted. I can't help but wonder what you might say if you were here to witness this now...

"I find myself remembering other students from back then. Ms. Valkyrie, Ms. Xiao Long, Ms. Belladonna... I believe you had a great deal of personal interaction with Mr. Ren, did you not? I remember how they disappeared near the end of that summer, only to reappear later in the Emerald Forest- we never _did_ find out where they'd gone. Not that it was any of my business anyways, of course.

"I can't explain why this has all come back to me the way it has. But something... there is something different about today. I wish I could give more detail, as I often implore my own students to do, but I have no way of doing so. It is simply... a feeling."

Almost self-consciously, Oobleck glanced behind himself. "There is a storm on the horizon," he muttered. "I'd best conclude my business here." He turned and tilted the bottle over, allowing the contents to spill onto the dirt in front of him. "Wherever you are, I hope you can still enjoy this." He then turned, walking out of the graveyard, then dashing the rest of the way home.

XXXX

A hooded figure made her way through a park in the center of Vale, towards the fountain set in pride of place. It had been erected after the successful Faunus Civil Rights movement of 808, as faunus were finally granted fully equal rights under the law. Slowly, she lowered her hood, revealing a head of brown hair, pulled into a ponytail over a tan, somewhat spotted face. Tired gray eyes looked upon the fountain, portraying a human and faunus shaking hands with each other, water emerging from the human's off-hand and the faunus's tail.

There had been a time Ilia Amitola had never believed that the day would come, truly believing that herself and her race would be forced to live amongst the shadows for all time. Not even attending Beacon High School had been enough to convince her otherwise, not when there were people like Cardin Winchester there. But it had happened. It had finally happened.

But that wasn't why she was here. She was here because this was the last place she had seen Blake Belladonna.

She shuddered as she remembered the name- the name of the person who had once meant more to her than anyone else in the world. Though they disagreed on many issues- not least of which was Blake's decision to fraternize with humans- with a _Schnee-_ Ilia had felt something truly special for her. She winced as she remembered the last time she'd seen Blake- storming out of the arcade, calling her a traitor simply for trying to bridge the gap between humans and faunus. She'd been so foolish then... so _petty..._

Even worse was her failure, after leaving Vale a year or two later, to recall that Blake even existed. For a quarter century now, she had all but forgotten the name, until she saw it again in the newspapers... in the obituaries.

She had woken that morning not remembering who Blake Belladonna was- then, not two hours later, collapsed into a sobbing wreck upon discovering that the woman had taken her own life.

There was no word as of yet as to _why_ Blake had done such a thing. Her suicide note was of absolutely no help to the police, simply quoting the beginning of an old story published before the War for Remnant-

 _The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance amidst vast seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far._

 _The sciences, each stretching in their own direction, have hitherto harmed us little, but one day, the piecing together of dissociated information will open up such terrifying vistas of reality that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age._

The only clue in the note was the obviously shaky hand that had penned it, particularly upon the word 'light,' which had been nigh illegible.

That wasn't the Blake Ilia remembered. Blake was brave- she would never do something like this. Blake's penmanship had been perfect- if one didn't know better, they may well mistake her handwriting for a typewriter.

There was more to it, Ilia knew, so she found herself returning to Vale, to all their old haunts, intent on discovering the truth.

 _The truth is nowhere to be found._

It was a tiny voice in the back of her head, easy to brush aside as her own self-doubt. _I'm not leaving until I know the truth!_

 _You never will. The truth is not yours to know._

Tears were falling from her eyes as she looked up at the skies- once so calm, now suddenly pouring down rain, washing her face clean.

 _A storm is coming..._

Ilia snorted at the thought. Any idiot could have known that.

 _No... a much greater storm. And no matter what happens, Vale will be washed away. Leave Blake's memory behind... allow her to live on in you._

Ilia's eyes widened- those were _not_ her own thoughts. "Who's there?!" She spun around, intent on spying anyone nearby- a telepathy semblance, perhaps?

But the park was empty- in the face of the oncoming storm, the park had been evacuated, leaving her the only one in the rain.

 _For her sake..._ the voice seemed to fade in again. _For her sake, leave Vale. Live..._

XXXX

"Dumbass weatherman, predicting clear skies all week," James Peach grumbled in front of his sister, who barely responded- she'd grown up with him, and long since grown used to his 'grouch-fits,' as she called them. "I swear to Dust, if the power goes out, I'll personally sue that bastard for everything he owns."

"We have plenty of backups," Holly pointed out calmly. "It will be a minor inconvenience at worst."

James grumbled, but didn't argue the point. Holly smiled, and decided to press on his weak point. "Perhaps we ought to make sure our patients are doing okay?"

James closed his eyes, and Holly's smile widened. The easiest way to get James to shut up? Bring up his patients- even his worst enemies received the best of care once they fell under that category.

"I'll send a nurse," James muttered, grabbing a nearby phone. "Alex Scarlatina, report to my office. Alex Scarlatina, to my office."

Not too far away, a rabbit faunus looked up from the charts he'd just been examining, nodding before setting them aside and getting on his way.

As he approached the door, he heard a voice. "Oh, Alex..."

He turned- the room was empty. He sighed- true, he'd been working a few long shifts lately, but he shouldn't be worn out to the point of hearing voices...

He turned and opened the door, only to jump back at the sight of the woman on the other side. "Who are you?!"

The woman stepped forward, smiling as she leaned on a parasol. "It's not about who I am, my dear boy... it's about what I can give you. More importantly... _who_ I can give you."

XXXX

"Ah, home sweet home," Jaune muttered as the remainder of Team Loser made their way through the muck that coated the bottom of Vale's sewer system. In their childhood, it had come up to their waists- now, however, it was only about knee-high. Even Weiss was having significantly less trouble as she forged ahead. "Never thought I'd see these tunnels again- what a relief, right?"

"I think Ice Cream Lady needs to invest in an elevator!" Nora chirped, maintaining a smile for the others' benefit that she couldn't say she was really feeling. "Oh! Or an _escalator!_ Those are so cool! Stairs that _move!_ I always love performing in buildings with escalators- I just keep going up and down until they finally kick me-"

"Beep beep, Nora," Pyrrha finally interrupted, though she couldn't help but smile at her friend's shenanigans. "We need to focus if we're going to find our way back down."

"About th-th-that," Yang spoke up, leading the group just as she had last time, guiding them with her own semblance-fueled glow, "w-w-we might b-be in some t-trouble."

"How d'ya mean?" Nora asked.

"R-R-Remember what R-Ren said? He _t-t-tried_ to f-find his way duh-down here, but n-n-never made it p-p-past the s-s-sewers."

"He did _what?!"_ Jaune and Pyrrha asked in near unison.

"They weren't there for that, Yang," Weiss reminded her. "Yes... that's where he got the knife. He went on an excursion of his own."

Jaune opened his mouth, clearly ready to press the issue farther, but Nora shut him down. "Don't worry, I already gave him a piece of my mind- he promised never to do something like that again!"

"You didn't hurt him, did you?" Pyrrha asked concernedly.

"Of course not!" Nora shook her head rapidly. "Just promised to break Ice Cream Lady's legs for him!"

Jaune smiled. "Of course you did."

"Back on topic," Weiss interjected, "I can think of a few reasons for why he had trouble. Maybe the way wasn't open because It was asleep."

"That... doesn't really make sense," Pyrrha pointed out.

Yang snorted. "When d-d-did _anything_ about It st-st-start muh-making sense?"

Jaune looked down at the water they were wading through. "Didn't we follow the water last time?"

"I th-th-think so," Yang nodded. "Why?"

"It's still this time."

He was right- looking down, Yang realized that the water wasn't flowing at all.

"Last time was in the middle of a storm," Pyrrha recalled. "Weren't the skies clear when we came down here?"

"I saw a couple clouds," Nora nodded, "but nothing _too_ serious."

"I think I remember where we passed into the deeper tunnels," Weiss spoke up. "Once we get down that deep, I can't make any promises... but I think my memory should be good enough to take us _that_ far, at least."

"W-w-well, that suh-settles that," Yang grinned. "Fuh-follow Weissy, everyone! Sh-sh-she's the one with the b-b-best sense of d-d-direction!"

"Didn't she get lost in the Emerald Forest that one time...?" Nora wondered.

"That was only once!" Weiss fired back, blushing slightly. "And I'd never been there before! This time... this time, I know where we're going!"

XXXX

The going was slow, even in spite of their new advantages. Long tunnels, twisting and turning and honeycombing their way deep into the earth. It took a long time for them to find something they recognized- and they almost wished they hadn't.

The water was beginning to thin when Jaune let out a yelp. "It's-"

"Russell Thrush," Pyrrha nodded, turning slightly green at the all-too-familiar sight. "We meet again."

The remainder of his flesh was gone, leaving only a skeleton with its jaw hanging open, and some _extremely_ tattered clothing. The tooth marks on his shoulder blade and pelvis had worn away, leaving only faint markings to show what had happened, and still, said arm and leg were missing.

"She didn't move him... even after all this time, It just left him here..." Weiss sounded like she wanted to vomit.

"As a s-s-scarecrow," Yang nodded, eyes turning red. "T-t-to remind us of h-h-her threat."

"Die if you try," Jaune recalled, shuddering slightly. "Die if you try."

Yang nodded, stepping past Russell's remains and towards the tunnel beyond. The others exchanged nervous glances, but carried on anyways.

They abruptly froze as Yang brought her feet to a screeching halt- though they couldn't see it, her eyes had grown wide. "Th-th- _this_ wasn't h-h-here b-before..."

They approached behind her and immediately saw what she meant- they stood on the edge of a vast abyss, a narrow pathway nearby marking the start of a zigzagging slope making its way down... down... down...

"It's changed..." Nora whispered, looking down into the impenetrable blackness. "It's changed!"

"I don't suppose anyone knows how deep it goes?" Pyrrha asked, clutching her spear tighter.

"One way to find out," Weiss muttered, producing a small pouch from her purse. From the pouch, she pulled a half-lien coin, flipping it into one hand before reaching out and dropping it into the darkness.

They all listened intently, mentally counting the seconds. Almost a full minute later, they heard a very faint clatter.

Jaune gave a nervous chuckle. "I don't suppose anyone actually knows how to convert that into a measurement..."

"To use the proper mathematical term," Nora nodded, gnawing on her knuckle, "pretty freaking far."

"W-w-well, we're already f-f-further than R-Ren got," Yang pointed out. "Onward and... d-d-downward, I guess."

The team was forced to walk single file on the path, which was almost punishingly narrow at points, forcing them to sidle along the cliff-face.

Out of common sense _and_ common courtesy, Jaune waited until the pathway had widened a bit before asking his next question. "So... does anyone remember just _how_ far down we went?"

"To use a proper _Nora_ term," Weiss snorted, "pretty freaking far."

Pyrrha laughed. "Indeed- we went rather further than I thought such tunnels possibly _could_ go."

"Right," Weiss nodded. "There were even times I..."

The others turned to stare at her as she faltered, hands clenched together, eyes on the ground in front of her.

"Come on, Ice Queen," Nora smiled. "You can tell us!"

"I really wish you'd stop calling me that," Weiss glared at her, before shying away again. "But... there were times I half-expected us to go all the way _through_ Remnant, and come out in Eastern Anima. You know... like in the cartoons."

She turned furiously red as the others continued to stare at her. Predictably, Nora was the first to act. "Oh, that is so _cute!"_

"Beep beep, Nora!" Weiss spoke up quickly as the larger girl came in for a hug. "Remember, we're on a cliff!"

After getting Nora off of her, they continued in silence, perfectly content to allow that conversation end on such a high note.

XXXX

Over the next hour or so, the only time any of them spoke was when Yang raised her voice to announce the end of the path- they had finally reached the end of the path, and the bottom of the gorge. Weiss looked briefly around for her half-lien coin, earning her some more light ribbing from Nora as she rubbed her fingers together like a stereotypical old miser before they returned to silence and made their way across the chasm, straight as they could.

All said, it had been nearly two hours since entering this gargantuan chamber that they finally located another tunnel.

"Oh, good... more cave," Jaune noted. "I was missing the claustrophobia."

"You're afraid of Santa Claus?!" Nora gasped.

"No, you _dunce!_ " Weiss muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. "It means he's-"

"Ho, ho, ho!"

"Beep beep, Nora," Pyrrha interrupted, smiling slightly nonetheless. "Yang, perhaps _you'd_ like to... explain it?"

Her words trailed off when she spied Yang, bending over to the ground, picking up a bag of some sort. There was something in her movements that cued the others that they wouldn't like what she'd just found. "This..."

"Yang?" Nora asked, abandoning her thoughts of teasing Weiss in favor of her leader. "Something wrong?"

Yang slowly turned to show them a brown leather satchel, engraved with a single name- _Scarlet David._ It didn't take long for the pieces to click.

"Your... your boyfriend?" Pyrrha gasped.

"It... It h-h-has him," Yang forced out, her hair covering her eyes. "I d-d-don't kn-kn-know _how,_ but It h-h-has him!"

"Perhaps it's just another illusion?" Weiss suggested halfheartedly.

"No!" Yang yelled. "I b-b-bought this f-f-for h-him after... after a f-f-fight." A quick glance at Jaune showed that he understood which fight she was referring to. "It m-m-means m-more to him th-than anything- he'd _n-n-never_ abandon it!"

She shook as she stood there, gazing at it. "I sh-sh-should've known- even after I w-w-warned h-him, he c-c-came... idiot!" She slammed a fist against the tunnel's wall. "Stupid... heroic... m-m-moron..."

Abruptly, she turned and broke into a sprint. "SCARLET! I'M C-C-COMING F-FOR YOU!"

"No- Yang, not again!" Weiss shouted as she followed suit, working with the rest of the team in an effort to keep pace with their leader.

"Wait, dammit! Wait!" Nora yelled.

Yang ignored them, charging down further and further through the tunnels, just as she had all those years ago.

Her sprint came to an end in another large chamber, though nowhere near as large as the one they'd just escaped- the walls and ceiling were actually in sight here. The reason for her halt was clear-on the cavern's opposite end stood a figure familiar to them all- Nora and Weiss in particular. Short black and red hair, a large crimson hood... yes, they knew this girl.

"Oh, come on!" Nora snarled. "She's doing the Ruby trick _again!_ "

Yang, however, slowed down as she approached the girl. "You're n-n-not R-Ruby," she snarled. "Out of m-m-my w-way."

The faux-Ruby looked back up at her, silver eyes gleaming- with mirth or unshed tears, it was difficult to say. "You lost another one, huh, sis?"

"...Wh-wh-what?" Yang asked.

"Why do you keep doing it, Yang?" Ruby asked, seemingly on the verge of tears. "Why do you keep killing the people you're supposed to care about?"

Yang stepped backwards, eyes widening.

"Don't listen to It, Yang, it's another trick!" Weiss spoke up.

Ruby took another step forward. "No wonder your Mom ran out on you- forget Uncle Qrow, you're the _real_ bad luck charm. You ran out into the woods and got _my_ Mom killed... then you sent me out into the rain, leaving _me_ to die... and now you've dragged Scarlet into it, too. He wanted to help you- he followed you here, all to join the ranks of those you've killed. If that weren't enough, you're trying to get the rest of your own team killed, too! Dragging them down before... dragging them back again? Why does everyone need to die, sis?"

"Shut up... sh-sh-shut up!" Yang cringed away, hands rising to cover her ears. "I d-d-didn't... I d-d-don't... it's n-n-not like that!"

"And to top it all off, when you finally _did_ come down and rescue me... you killed me yourself instead." Tears began to pour from Ruby's eyes. "Why? I thought you loved me, but you left me to the Lady, then finished me off when you found me!"

Yang's head buzzed with the accusations as the final memory clunked into place.

Ruby lurking in the shadows of Its lair. Her approach across the floor...

The feel of the gun in her hand as she pressed it against Ruby's forehead.

"No... n-no..."

"Yang-"

"She's r-r-r-right... _I_ k-k-killed her... m-me..."

Tears began to leak down Yang's face- she could almost _hear_ her friends abandoning her- and why shouldn't they? She was a disgusting person, desperately running from her past, concealing her true nature beneath partying and fun, when deep down, she was the same person fully willing to assault a man out of nowhere at a bar in her quest for pleasure to escape her memories of committing the sin of sororicide.

XXXX

Lie Ren opened his eyes- something was wrong.

He looked around his hospital room, brightly lit, but somehow much more threatening than it had been before. A glance out of his window showed a storm brewing, just as it had the day they'd gone under all those years ago.

There was a knock on the door, and he turned to see a nurse entering- Alex Scarlatina. His heart dropped- the brother of Velvet Scarlatina, who had been among Its first victims.

"Hello, Alex," he greeted. "How are you doing today?"

"You... _you_ killed her..."

Ren's eyes widened as he took in more of Alex's appearance- his head was bent, his long brown hair covering his eyes. His hands were in fists at his side- and one of them was clutching a syringe tightly, filled with something that did not look good for his body.

"I've never killed anybody, Alex," Ren spoke up, hoping to bring him under control. Even as he did, though, his other hand went for the call-button, quietly pressing it as hard as he could. "I don't know where you got that idea..."

"The woman," Alex muttered, his voice rather dull as he took another step towards the bed. "The woman came, and told me everything. It was never Cardin at all, was it? _You_ killed Velvet- you killed _all_ of them, then blamed it on him!"

"That woman isn't a reliable source," Ren objected, pressing the call button again. "Alex... what makes you think you can trust her?"

Alex looked up, revealing a pair of cold, dead eyes. "She knows... she knows it all."

Ren's heart increased in speed. There was no reasoning with Alex, and nobody was answering his call. He knew why, of course- it was obvious to one as well-versed in Vale's history as he was.

They were hearing it, of that there was no doubt. James Peach kept the hospital to the highest standards in all areas- if anything was ever broken, _particularly_ if there was the slightest chance of it endangering his patients- it would be fixed as soon as possible- within hours, for something as simple as the call button. No, they were hearing it- hearing, but not responding.

They'd respond eventually- that was equally certain. Once Alex had already done Its work, putting whatever poison filled that syringe into his veins, they would come. They would arrive _just_ too late to do anything about Ren breathing his last, on the bed or on the floor, and though Alex may face justice for the crime, it wouldn't be true justice- Ren would still be dead, and the true killer would be at large. Such was how things went in Vale.

Ren struggled slightly, attempting to move, only to be halted by the pain in his leg. Paradoxically, emptiness began to fill him- the end was near, and there was nothing he could do about it.

XXXX

"Something's wrong!" Nora spoke up, looking at her friends.

"I... I feel it, too," Jaune nodded.

"Ren!" Pyrrha cried, a mouth rising to her mouth.

Weiss turned to look at Yang. "Yang, get up, Ren's in danger!"

Yang continued to sulk upon the ground, the thing that was not Ruby smiling sickly above. "Wh-wh-why h-h-haven't you l-l-left?" she asked. "I'm a m-m-murderer... a t-t-traitor..."

"Because you're _none_ of those things!" Nora screamed. "That's what we've been saying all along- you are _not_ the one who killed Ruby!"

"I sh-sh-shot h-her," Yang whimpered. "I p-p-put m-my gun up and... _and..._ "

"Bull _shit!_ " Weiss screeched. "You shot _It!_ There's no _way_ Ruby was still alive at that point! I don't know what memories she's trying to plant in your brain, but I can tell you for a fucking _fact_ that never happened!"

"But Weiss-" 'Ruby' began, but Weiss turned on her next.

"You can shut up!"

"Maybe you couldn't save Ruby," Jaune agreed. "That sucks- but Ren's in trouble now, and it's _not_ too late to save him!"

Yang sat still for another second, before giving a light chuckle. "You g-g-guys... you're r-r-right..."

"Yang...?" Ruby asked, almost nervously.

"Even if... even if I d-d-did... l-l-letting It k-k-kill us w-won't ch-ch-change anything." She began to rise to her feet. "B-b-besides... wh-what d-d-do I d-do?"

Pyrrha smiled as her leader resumed her feet. "You burn."

"H-h-hotter than the s-s-sun in the m-m-middle of J-July," Yang nodded, turning on Ruby, who seemed to recoil.

"No..."

"H-hotter than the s-sun in the m-middle of July, I _b-burn!_ " Yang repeated.

"Stop- please, stop!" Ruby squealed, raising her hands to her ears.

"HOTTER THAN THE SUN IN THE MIDDLE OF JULY, I BURN!"

Ruby screamed as she recoiled from her older sister, who was curling her hand into a fist. "Ruby _is_ dead- but _it's not my fault!_ "

She swung her punch, and with one last echoing cry, Ruby's image shattered like a mirror.

Yang spun to the others. "I f-feel it, t-too. Ren... hands t-together!"

They quickly formed a circle in the chamber's center, focusing on their missing friend with all their might. Jaune flinched as he felt something leave him- something left all of them, before rushing straight through the ceiling, taking off towards Ren with all due haste.

XXXX

Alex was drawing worryingly close with that syringe, and still, Ren had no way to fight back. A dull acceptance was beginning to rise in him when he felt something slam into him- from the opposite direction of Alex.

His eyes widened as strength suddenly coursed through him- he could feel it filling his body, almost like he was a battery due for a recharge that had just come.

Alex finally plunged the needle down towards his arm, only for Ren to reach up and deftly seize his wrist, twisting it around and forcing him to drop the needle- right into his other waiting hand. He turned the syringe around and stabbed it into Alex's shoulder, taking care not to inject the contents- not that he needed to. The needle alone was enough to send Alex away, screaming at the top of his lungs.

Heedless of his injury, Ren rose from the bed, his leg keeping him supported with surprising steadiness as he grabbed the needle again, tossing it to the other side of the room before shoving Alex over a nearby bed. Alex regained his footing with surprising speed, letting out a scream of fury as he charged at Ren again, who dodged to the side and brought his fists down on the faunus's back.

A thunder of footsteps sounded outside the door- at long last, his call was being answered. About time.

No sooner had the realization set in than the sudden burst of strength faded- the pain returned to his leg, and he collapsed on top of it, letting out a shout of his own. Whatever had entered him so briefly had gone again- presumably back to its point of origin.

The door swung open, and James Peach led the charge into the room. "SCARLATINA! WHAT THE _HELL_ ARE YOU DOING?"

Far from being put off, Alex continued to struggle even as James seized him around the shoulders and Holly moved to return Ren to his bed. "DON'T LET HIM GO! THAT BASTARD'S A MURDERER! HE KILLED MY SISTER! _HE KILLED HER!"_

"I'm sorry about this, Mr. Ren," Holly said to her patient as she repositioned his leg. "We never thought Alex would do anything like this."

Before unconsciousness took Ren, he saw James continuing his struggle to drag Alex out the door. Weakly, he thought, _Neither did I._

XXXX

Jaune shivered again as he felt whatever had left them return- he hadn't even noticed feeling weak until the strength returned. Nevertheless, he smiled around the room- "He's safe."

Nora smiled back. "Yeah... I feel it, too. It's all good."

"...Are you okay, Yang?" Weiss asked slowly, before wincing at her own words- of _course_ Yang wasn't okay.

She did, however, seem far more stable as she took her hands away from the rest of the group, patting Scarlet's satchel lightly. "...I'll b-be f-f-fine," she muttered. "C-c-come on... I kn-kn-know the rest of the w-way."

The others didn't ask, simply accepting her words as she turned and guided them further into the tunnels.

Unlike before, the tunnels did not fade into geometrically perfect black and grey as they continued to descend- what happened this time was rather more disturbing. It was faint, at first- when Weiss first saw a wall pulse, she brushed it aside as her imagination. When Pyrrha first stumbled over a vein-like protrusion in the ground, her brain insisted that it was just a spur of rock.

But as they drew closer to the deepest parts of the tunnels, they began to realize that the walls seemed almost... fleshy. Alive. They seemed to be walking on pulsing tubes of sorts, almost as though transporting blood towards some gigantic organism. Be it in their imaginations or in reality, they could almost hear the beating of a gigantic heart, drawing closer... and closer... and closer...

The tunnel ended, just as before, in a door marked with a rune, or glyph of sorts- the same two lines forming the same angle, broken apart by the third.

"It's... this is where It is," Pyrrha whispered.

"Well... _I'm_ n-n-not g-gonna kn-knock," Yang muttered, reaching out her hand.

"Wait..."

She paused and looked back at Jaune, who was looking at the ground, almost as if in shame. "I... I just wanted to say something, before we go in. Since it... you know... might be our last chance, and all..."

"Hey, now, don't jinx us!" Nora objected. "Especially not against _It!_ "

"I _have_ to say it!" Jaune objected. "I... I think I already told Pyrrha about... everything about my time with Emerald. It was..."

"Horrible?" Weiss guessed.

"Unbearable?" Pyrrha speculated.

"Shitty b-b-beyond belief?" Yang threw her hat into the ring.

"You wanted to break her legs?" Nora's eyes lit up slightly.

"...pretty bad," Jaune decided to conclude simply. "I... I don't know how I could have been so stupid as to get into a relationship with her."

"Yeah... it's like you married _Cardin."_ Nora shuddered at the idea.

"No... it's more like I married my mother," Jaune admitted.

"C-C-Cardin, your m-m-mother... t-t-tomato, t-t-tomahto," Yang said firmly. "Th-they're b-b-both abusive p-p-pricks, one's j-j-just y-younger."

"I suppose," Jaune nodded. "But the thing that frustrated her the most was that... well... I'd never... do _it_ with her."

"Never?" Nora asked, surprised, oblivious to the sudden look of hope in Pyrrha's eyes. "Not even once? What, was she really that ugly?"

"Nora!" Weiss objected. "Jaune's not like that!... Are you?" she added as an afterthought.

"No, it wasn't that," Jaune agreed. "I just... at first, I thought it was just because I wasn't ready... that's what I kept telling myself. But now, I realize... I never really loved her at all. Even before she started... this..." He motioned to his scarred back- "I never really _loved_ her. I know it now... I never could have. Even if she was the most amazing, beautiful woman in the world- inside _and_ out- I couldn't have loved her. Because..." His eyes refused to leave the ground. "Because... the only people I ever really loved... was all of you."

Pyrrha clasped her hands over her mouth, looking on the verge of crying in happiness. Nora broke into a grin, and even Yang offered a small smile.

"Were," Weiss muttered.

"...Huh?" Jaune asked, staring at her.

"You should have said, 'the only people I ever really loved _were_ all of you," Weiss clarified.

Jaune couldn't help but chuckle. "Really? I just bare my heart out for you, and you just go and correct my-" He was cut off as Weiss forced him into a hug.

"...I feel the same way," she whispered. "I mean, I _do_ love Neptune, but... but not in the same way I love all of you."

One by one, the others pulled into one final group hug. For a while, they stayed there, as though by doing so, they could postpone the inevitable. At long last, though, they broke apart.

"W-well," Yang whispered. "L-l-let's see what It's d-d-done with the p-p-place, shall w-we?"

She pushed open the door and stepped inside.

The moment they crossed the threshold, they staggered, practically sliding down the short hill on the other side. As they pulled themselves back up, Weiss let out a scream. "I... I remember! Oh, my God, I remember _everything!_ "

"I... I do, too!" Pyrrha nodded, eyes widening as they took in the cavern. Almost instinctively, she reached out and clung onto Jaune, who looked just as suddenly terrified as she did. "I remember..."

Weiss looked on the verge of a mental breakdown. "Oh, my God... no wonder Blake committed suicide- _I_ should have, too!"

"Beep beep, Weiss!" Nora shouted, fixing her with a stern glare. "I... I remember, now, too... but we have a job to do! If you want to kill yourself, do it on your own time!"

Weiss nodded weakly, pulling herself back to her feet. "R... right..."

Yang's attention, meanwhile, had been drawn by a large, pulsating object near the entrance- one of what had to be over a hundred within the cavern they'd found. "Wh-what are _th-these?_ "

"A super secret bioweapon?" Nora guessed, clearly in an effort to lighten the mood.

"No..." Jaune whispered, turning green as he approached the object in front of Yang. "No... these are _eggs_..."

Each and every single one of them felt their blood run cold.

"NO!" Pyrrha found herself screaming, seizing her spear and driving it into the nearest egg. It didn't take long for Jaune to join in with the knife, Weiss with her rapier, and Nora with her hammer. Yang looked tempted to use her bare fists, but ultimately abstained.

Within seconds, the egg had been reduced to a pile of alien mush on the ground.

Then came the scream.

XXXX

Goodwitch had just begun running a shower when she heard the scream- she clapped her hands over her ears, instantly horrified by the sound, as the old injury in her shoulder seemed to reopen, just as fresh as the day she'd received it.

XXXX

Bartholomew Oobleck had made his way to _A Simple Wok_ for lunch that day- every single customer heard the scream- a scream of pain, of anguish- of abject _fury._ Without knowing why, he felt dread force its way into his heart.

XXXX

As a faunus, Ilia Amitola was more affected than most by the scream, keeling over in the middle of the street on the way to her hotel, almost ready to pierce her own eardrums to avoid having to hear it anymore. One thought made itself clear in her mind- the voice, whatever it had been, was absolutely right.

She had to get out of Vale.

XXXX

Within the Vale hospital, the doctors and nurses that had united to restrain Alex stopped to clap their hands to their ears when the scream rippled through the building. Alex was released- but made no move to escape. His eyes widened, life seemingly returning to them as he suddenly collapsed to the ground. "No... what was I... my _God,_ what was I _doing?!_ "

XXXX

At ground zero, however, in the deepest reaches of Vale's secret tunnels, Team Loser did not flinch- not from the moment the scream began to the moment it finally faded into a ringing silence.

"I th-th-think..." Yang commented, "we h-h-have Its attention."

From a distance, they heard a roar, the scraping of some massive body making its way through the caves towards them. They all readied their weapons- spear, rapier, hammer, knife, knuckles.

"YOU K-KILLED MY S-S-SISTER, YOU B-BITCH!" Yang called out, as a large shadow made itself seen around a nearby corner. "G-GET OUT HERE AND _F-FACE_ ME!"

And It did, finally rounding the corner to show off all its grotesque glory. Team Loser gasped behind her, but Yang did not show any fear- not to _this_ creature.

After a twenty-seven year hiatus, the Fire Walk had begun again.

 _XXXX_

Please R&R, constructive criticism and questions embraced, Gamer4 out.


	47. The Guardian Sets the Board (C)

Gamer4 in. ...

Disclaimer:...

Chapter XLV

The Guardian Sets the Board

White. Everything was white.

Yang pushed herself off the ground, only to realize that there _was_ no ground- everything in sight was the same, unrelenting shade of white.

She rubbed her head, before recalling what had been happening before she'd apparently collapsed- the trip down through the sewers... the apathy... the death of Team CRDL... the door... then, nothing.

Her head snapped up. "B-Blake?!" she called out urgently. "Weiss! N-Nora! Pyrrha! Jaune! Ren!"

"We're here, Yang!"

She looked around, and saw Blake and Ren kneeling over the remainder of their comrades, who looked like they were just waking up themselves.

"Ugh... what happened?" Weiss muttered, rubbing her forehead as though fighting off an intense headache.

"I... I remember we went through that door..." Jaune muttered. "Then... did we see It?"

"Not that _I_ can remember," Nora shook her head.

"Forget all of that," Pyrrha gasped, looking around at their surroundings. "Where are we _now?_ "

"The Twilight Zone?" Ren suggested, only half-jokingly.

Yang was on the point of offering an answer when she stopped at another noise- the unmistakable sound of flesh clapping against flesh.

The clapping continued, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere, all at once. "You have come so far... I am proud of you." The voice was calm, almost soothing. "Team... Loser. Vale's proudest heroes. My dear... dear, brave, children. At long last, we can meet, face-to-face."

At last, they spotted the speaker. He didn't seem to stride into view, nor did it seem as though he'd teleported. He was simply gone one moment, then appeared within their field of vision the next, without a puff of smoke, a popping noise, or any other usual signifier such an act would usually entail.

The man was taller, certainly taller than any of the Losers, several of whom were hardly short themselves. He was slightly broad, though not heavily-muscled. He wore a deep green scarf tucked into a darker green shirt, which was itself covered in a black suit. His hair was an odd shape of light silver, falling over a pair of dark glasses that were low enough on his nose not to conceal his brown eyes.

His hands were folded over a cane, extending towards the ground with a silver handle, inlaid with gold gears- somehow, Yang felt as though she'd seen it somewhere before. In addition, one of the hands was clenched around the handle of a coffee mug- which, judging by the smell suddenly pervading their nostrils, was indeed full. He smiled warmly at them as he took a sip.

Despite the soothing effect of his voice, Yang was swift to raise her guard- out of the corner of her eyes, she could see she was not the only one. "Wh-wh-who're you?" she demanded.

The man made no move to defend himself, remaining quite calm as he gazed at them. "I can hardly begrudge your defensiveness," he admitted. "You have been given precious little reason to trust anything since your previous summer, after all. However, it would be to my eternal gratitude if you were willing to hear me out before attempting to strike me down."

"We'll s-s-see." Yang narrowed her eyes. " _Wh-who are you?_ "

The man remained silent a moment longer. "I have several names you may be aware of. In the east, they tend to call me 'Teacher.' The west prefers names such as 'Jehovah,' or 'Yeshua,' though I would be hesitant to claim them for myself. I believe the people of the south come the closest- they call me 'the Guardian,' though even that is more of a title than a true name."

Yang growled in frustration. "I've h-had _enough_ t-t-tricks and r-riddles, old m-man! _Wh-who are you?!_ "

The man remained silent only a moment longer. "My true name is Ozpin," he finally answered. "I am the one who created your world, though I hope you do not hold it against me. Far more worth your ire is that I am the cause of your current predicament- you would not be wrong to hold me accountable for everything that has plagued you over the past year."

Yang glanced backwards, seeing similar looks of disbelief on her friends' faces. "You're saying you're God?" Blake asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"In a manner of speaking," 'Ozpin' shrugged, taking another sip from his coffee mug. "For a given understanding, from your world, it would not be wrong to address me as such. However, as I say, I believe there is another far more worthy of that title than I."

"And y-you s-say y-you're responsible f-f-for It?" Yang asked, her eyes flickering. "F-f-for _Ruby?_ "

Ozpin fixed his gaze upon her. "Do not misunderstand me. I did not kill your sister- though I _would_ go as far as to say I am partially responsible for her death- far more so than you are. It was _I,_ after all, who failed in the task set to me by the One who Dances in the Center of All Things."

"Okay, okay, back up!" Nora interjected. "We lost ya way back at 'In a manner of speaking.' The heck are ya talking about?"

Ozpin returned his gaze to the group at large. "What I am trying to say, Ms. Valkyrie, is that I was entrusted the task of slaying the creature you know as Neo- or, more recently, as 'It.' I failed, and your world has suffered for it ever since."

A growl rose up, drawing some surprised gazes when Team Loser realized they were coming from Jaune. "That still doesn't make any sense!" he practically snarled. "You just got through telling us how _you_ created the world- who could have given _you_ a job?"

Despite the hostility being leveled his way, Ozpin remained quite calm as he answered. "I did not claim to create _the_ world, Mr. Arc. I only claimed to create _your_ world- and there are far more worlds than these."

Team Loser exchanged glances among themselves, before Weiss took up the task of speaking next. "In that case... who created _you?_ "

Ozpin smiled warmly. " _Now_ you're asking the right questions. The one who created me is the very entity that set me task... the one who created the macroverse that encompasses and surrounds all worlds, binding them together- the One who Dances in the Center of All Things."

"Okay, that's gonna get old _real_ quick," Nora butted in again. "One who Dances, One who Dances... why don't we shorten that up a bit and just call them the Dancer?"

Ozpin's lip quirked upward slightly as he gazed at the girl in pink. "The Dancer...? For the sake of brevity, I suppose we may as well. Our time here is short, after all."

"Where _is_ 'here?'" Pyrrha repeated her question from earlier. "Last we remember, we were in the caves beneath Vale, and now-"

"You still are," Ozpin interrupted. "I am communicating directly with your minds. I have been endeavoring to do so for the better part of a year, now, but it is only now that I have finally broken through. Contact between worlds is no easy feat- it has been hard enough to guide you throughout this year without attempting to speak to you directly. I _almost_ managed to speak with Ms. Xiao Long in her dreams one night, but she awoke before I could relay any meaningful information."

This time, it was Weiss who took on a hostile tone. "'Guiding' us? You've been _manipulating_ us all year?"

"I suppose that term is equally accurate, though I would not refer to it as such," Ozpin nodded. "I assure you, I sought only to guide you together, to assist you towards fulfilling your destiny."

Yang spoke next, more scathing than either of her predecessors. "And what 'd-d-destiny' is _that?_ "

"To kill It," Ozpin answered simply.

"You said it was _your_ job," Jaune grunted, glaring daggers at the man. "Why not do it yourself?!"

"Would that I could," Ozpin practically whispered, looking at the ground. "However, my original plans were thrown back in my face far more drastically than I could have imagined..."

Ren cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention. "Perhaps we would be best served if you were to tell us the whole story- start to finish."

Ozpin smiled, almost wistfully. "The story is far too long to relate here. Within this realm, we have far more time to speak, but I sense It recollecting Itself- we have time, but it is by no means unlimited. However... I suppose you deserve at least an abridged version."

The white around them began to fade, disappearing into a deep blackness.

Ozpin's voice sounded again, but this time, it seemed to be speaking directly into their minds.

 _It all began with the Dancer. Nobody knows where the Dancer came from- whether from a realm even higher than ours, or if he simply appeared one day into the infinite void. Regardless, once he appeared, he began to forge life from what once had been nothing._

The darkness was broken by a bright light- almost like a star, but when they peered closer, they could almost see a humanoid form in the center- a torso, arms, legs, a head- though the light was too bright to reveal any features.

The figure began to dance around the darkness, and where it moved, stars followed. It stopped at certain points and danced there for longer than usual, then moved ahead, leaving a planet behind. With a flourish of its hand, the figure left a comet, then forged a galaxy with a twirl of its hand.

 _The structure of his world was... unorthodox. He created numerous worlds, scattered through space, each surrounded by a greater space- the macroverse. The macroverse exists between the worlds, acting as a bridge between._

 _The worlds themselves began to birth new worlds, splitting apart at the peak of major events, breaking apart much like the branches of a tree- and still, those worlds exist side-by-side within the macroverse. Swiftly, the worlds became unbalanced- despite the many worlds, there was only_ one _Dancer to watch over them all, ensuring they'd not collapse._

 _His solution lay in the creation of the Center of All Things- a bolt that held all the worlds together, binding them and allowing him access to them all. No matter how separate they are, at their center, the worlds are one._

 _The Center manifests differently in each world. In some, it is a vast tower. In others, it is a single, immortal rose. In the macroverse, however, it appears as a great tree, stretching infinitely in all directions. This is what has been told, and this is what has been._

 _It did not escape his notice that if the tree were to fall- if the Center of All Things were somehow undone- it would also be the undoing of all his worlds. Thusly, he created twelve guardians to watch over it, spreading them out across the macroverse with the sole task of ensuring his domain would be protected. He then retreated to that center, where he continues his dance to this very day, ensuring the worlds will never fall._

"Very interesting," Blake muttered. "But where does _It_ fall in all this?"

As if in response to her question, the scene changed again- to a bloody battlefield. In the distance was a black tower, rising from the ground, surrounded by warring armies- very few of which, they noticed with a jolt, seemed to be particularly human.

 _It was exactly as the Dancer feared- once word had spread amongst the worlds of what lay in their center, they began moving, creatures from all corners of the world and the macroverse mobilizing with their eyes set on the Center, certain that absolute power awaited whoever might conquer it._

 _Of the horrors of those wars, I will speak little. What occurred in that era would be enough to eclipse the darkest nightmares of your world. Know only that from the horrors of that war emerged an even greater fear. From the evils committed was born a creature of absolute consumption, thriving on dread, lurking at the very edges of the macroverse... the deadlights._

Team Loser blinked as they were returned to the scene of space- except at the very edge of their vision- at what they supposed constituted the 'horizon' of this strange place- they could see a faint, yellowish-orange light... a light all too familiar to them by now.

 _The deadlights are evil given form- but not tied to any form, as it is so universal. It can assume any shape it pleases to disguise itself, or, more likely, to terrify its victims as it closes in for the kill. Its bond with fear ensures that those who die scared are more delicious to It than any others, and because of its roots in endless greed, it seeks only to consume- endlessly, mindlessly._

 _So great was Its presence at one time that the Dancer took notice- and immediately instructed me, his most trusted lieutenant, to extinguish the deadlights. To aid in this end, he gave me a small fragment of his power, before closing off the Center of All Things, never to be reopened until the deadlights were gone._

 _I pursued the deadlights across the macroverse, but It always seemed one step ahead, always blending in perfectly with Its surroundings. Once It grew wise to me, it began to taunt me, even guiding me into one particularly cruel trap- one I have no wish to recall now._

A brief flash appeared across their vision- the scream of a man and woman alike, a spray of blood, and a cold, cruel laughter on the sidelines.

 _After that, my determination to extinguish the deadlights increased beyond the Dancer's instructions- I sought it for personal ends, as well. To that end, I laid a trap of my own- something you may consider unforgivable, something that I am barely willing to forgive myself for... but I did it nonetheless._

Nora gulped slightly before whispering, "What... what did you do?"

 _I think you have already realized._

 _I used the power gifted to me by the Dancer to create a new world- a world teeming with life, life of the sort the deadlights would be hard-pressed to resist. A world that I named after my feelings after falling into the deadlights' trap for me... a world I named Remnant._

A cold front seemed to wash over Team Loser as Ozpin continued. A new planet appeared beneath them, but they needed no aid recognizing it- any grade schooler could recognize it. Abruptly, two massive lights appeared nearby- yellow-orange and deep green.

 _As I planned, It made a move for Remnant almost as soon as the world was born. Immediately, I struck, and we fought a battle that lasted for epochs of time within this new world. Despite Its former inclination to run, It proved a worthy opponent when battling me, and the tide shifted many times._

 _In the end, however, I prevailed, striking Its form down towards the world I created, reveling as I sensed Its life fading away._

 _It should have ended then... I truly believed It to be dead, my task complete. But It had performed yet another trick- It survived Its fall, descending into hibernation to throw off my attempts to track it down any further. Even as I returned to the macroverse, It was preparing for Its eventual return._

 _It took me far longer than it should have for me to realize that It was still alive... but by then, there was little I could do. I left the world I created, and vowed not to return- if there is one thing I have learned in my long life, it is that when the worlds of mortals and the world of the divine cross, only tragedy is bound to follow. Even so, I watched with horror as It began to prey upon my world... upon those who were, in one way or another, my own children. But there was no longer anything I could do- the world was sealed off from the macroverse. To cross into your world would be to abandon my duties guarding the Center of All Things- and that is one thing I simply_ cannot _do._

 _However... one year ago, in your time, I sensed an opportunity. I sensed seven bright, vibrant souls lurking within the town It had chosen as Its new home. Souls bright enough, perhaps, to drown out the deadlights themselves... to succeed where I could not, to_ do _what I could not..._

The world was fading back to white, and Ozpin reappeared before them, looking almost guilty. "I sensed all of you," he said, somewhat unnecessarily. "And I have been guiding you since, hoping to assist you towards that destiny."

For a long while, Team Loser remained speechless- though Yang's fists had clenched together, shaking in silent anger. "D-d-destiny?" she finally said, practically hissing. "F-f-fate? _F-f-fuck all that!_ I j-just want my _s-s-sister_ back!"

Ozpin looked sadly down at her. "I am afraid that is one thing I cannot grant you."

"B-b-but you were _f-f-fine_ manipulating all of us all y-y-year?!" Yang shouted back. "F-f-forcing us on this _d-d-destiny_ you ch-chose for us?"

"I have forced nothing upon you," Ozpin shook his head. "I guided you together, and may have given you a nudge in the proper direction every now and again, but it was by your own hand that you arrived in Its lair."

"Was it, though?" Weiss asked, her eyes narrowing into chips of ice.

Ozpin looked away- whether in guilt, shame, or something else altogether, it was impossible to tell. "If you truly wish to turn your back on your destiny, I will not interrupt you. Once you leave this place and return to the tunnels, you are welcome to leave. I will not stop you- and I doubt Neo will, either."

"N-n- _no!_ " Yang shouted again. "I'm not l-l-leaving until I have that b-b-bitch's _heart_ in m-my _hands!_ Sh-she killed my s-s-sister!"

She faltered as she said that, her eyes widening as if coming to a sudden realization- the same realization that was sweeping over the rest of Team Loser as well.

The same realization that Ozpin gave voice to as he raised his eyes to meet theirs again. "And _that_ is why it is your destiny. Not because _I_ have ordained it, but because you, personally, will not rest until you have done it, or died trying. Am I wrong?"

Yang hesitated, her mouth hanging open as she wrapped her head around all she'd just been told.

Ozpin continued to gaze at them. At last, he continued. "You have no obligation to listen to me. I have done little for you, and can offer you nothing in return. However, you are the greatest chance I have had in eons to finally fulfill this task." To everyone's surprise, he suddenly assumed a new position. Leaving his cane behind, standing on its own in the infinite white, the coffee mug at its side, he bowed down before them in an act of total subservience- legs and arms on the ground, hunched over, forehead placed between them. "I _beg_ of you... do what I could not. Kill Neo Politan, and extinguish the deadlights."

Team Loser glanced at each other, bemused. At long last, Yang spoke again- still sounding somewhat defiant, but now seemingly struggling to remain so. "W-w-we'll d-d-do it. B-but f-for _ourselves-_ n-not for _you._ "

Ozpin looked up, nodding. "I suppose I can ask for nothing more." With that, he returned to his feet.

"Do... do you have any advice for us?" Nora asked.

"Yeah," Blake agreed. "If you're going to ask us to do something like this, the _least_ you can do is offer us a few pointers."

"I already have," Ozpin nodded as he picked up his mug and cane. "As you have already guessed, you must use the Fire Walk ritual to defeat It."

"And what _is_ the Fire Walk?" Ren asked- unlike the others, he didn't sound confrontational, but genuinely curious.

Ozpin sighed as he turned back towards them. "This, my children, is where things get complicated."

"Oh, goody- because they were _so_ simple before," Nora snorted.

Ozpin allowed himself a slight smile. "What you must understand, is that the creature you know as It truly exists in two parts. It has a form within your world- the one I struck down, and which lives there now- it is what you came so near to slaying with the silver knife.

"However, there is a portion of her that remains in the macroverse still- outside the very edges. That portion provides life and energy to her manifestation in Remnant- even if you kill It in your world, what remains of It in the macroverse will revive It. _That_ is where the Fire Walk comes in.

"You must choose one among your number- the one with the greatest will- and force Neo to show you her deadlights. Your spirit will be sent into the macroverse, where It will attempt to force you towards the deadlights at the edges. Make no mistake- if It succeeds in this endeavor, death will be the most merciful outcome. However, if you are prepared- and if your will burns bright enough- you will be able to fight back against It- and within the realm of the macroverse, it will be on far more even footing. The one performing the Fire Walk must kill It in the macroverse, while the others destroy Its body on Remnant- only then can It truly be wiped from all worlds."

Team Loser blinked, struggling to come to terms with everything they'd been told.

"I... I _believe_ I understand," Ren nodded. "But... if I may, why only one of us? Would it not be more efficient if we _all_ gazed into the lights and performed this 'Fire Walk?'"

"It might be," Ozpin nodded, "except that It has far more experience in these matters than you. When you gaze into its lights, your soul will leave your body to ascend into the macroverse, leaving your body inert. But It already exists on both planes- while Its spirit fights in the heavens, Its form on Remnant will continue to attempt to fight you off. I am certain that the idea of leaving your bodies behind to Its will does not appeal to you."

"Definitely not," Weiss nodded, shuddering.

"Well, I think it's pretty obvious who should go under," Pyrrha muttered, turning towards Yang with a smile.

"Hail the conquering hero!" Nora nodded eagerly in agreement, slapping Yang on the back.

"She _does_ have the most personal history with It," Ren acknowledged.

Weiss smiled slightly as she added, "And you know what she does, of course."

"She burns," Blake smiled.

"Hotter than the sun in the middle of July," Jaune nodded, crossing his arms in apparent satisfaction with their game plan.

"You g-g-guys," Yang smiled at them, before turning back to Ozpin. "Well, I s-s-suppose that f-fixes _that_ p-p-plan."

Ozpin nodded, smiling. "I will attempt to assist you once you ascend to the macroverse- though I doubt I will be able to get too involved." He looked up, suddenly attentive. "Our time runs short. Before I let you go, I offer one final warning- whatever you do, ensure that you finish it. Do _not_ allow it to escape- another opportunity will not arise for another twenty-seven years. By then, it may be too late."

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked.

Ozpin looked around at them solemnly. "Imagination and willpower are your greatest weapons in the Fire Walk- both blunt with age. What can be done when you are young often cannot be repeated once age has claimed you."

A trembling coursed through the white void surrounding them, not unlike a small earthquake. Ozpin sighed. "So soon after we meet, we must bid farewell. I doubt we will see each other again, but until such a time...

"Blake Belladonna... Weiss Schnee... Jaune Arc... Nora Valkyrie... Pyrrha Nikos... Lie Ren... Yang Xiao Long... Team Loser... I wish you luck."

 _XXXX_

Gamer4 out.


	48. Team Loser Performs a Ritual (I) (C)

Gamer4 in.

Disclaimer:...

Chapter XLVI

Team Loser Performs a Ritual (Part I)

Yang staggered forward as the world of white around her faded, leaving her and her team back in the cave deep below Vale. Recalling Ozpin's words of caution, she immediately swept her gaze around the area in search of their quarry.

Her heart leapt when her eyes fell upon the fallen body of her sister. The events prior to Ozpin's discussion came rushing back to her, eliciting a screech of horror as she tossed her father's gun away from her.

"Yang?" Blake asked immediately, appearing at her side. "Are you okay?"

"I... I sh-sh-sh..." Yang attempted to explain, but her stutter had worsened beyond any possibility of speaking.

Weiss approached from her other side. "Yang... I doubt that was really Ruby. No... no, I don't _doubt_ it- I _know_ it wasn't her."

Yang turned to look back at her friends, gazing at her with mixes of pity and sympathy.

"She went missing a year ago," Ren pointed out. "There's no way she could have survived on her own this long."

"B-b-but... but N-N-Neo..."

"She lied," Pyrrha gave the obvious answer.

Jaune's face betrayed the same pity, but he didn't wait much longer, unsheathing the silver knife and moving forward. "Let me prove it- if it's really her body, she won't-"

Another loud screech echoed through the chamber- but this time, it wasn't from Yang. Everyone spun to see Ruby's corpse convulsing on the ground, her mouth opening far beyond human limits. In the black hole that was her steadily-widening maw, they swore they could see something stirring- a faint flicker of movement that they couldn't place. At her side, a new arm was growing back in place of the one she had seemingly lost all those years ago. Her clothing was altering, her cloak fading away as her skirt changed to a pair of pants, a white coat overtaking the corset, necklaces appearing around her throat.

At last, she stopped, returning to gazing up at the cavern's ceiling.

*POP! POP!*

One by one, her limbs stretched out- not by much, but enough to be noticeable. Her hair extended drastically in length, changing from black with red tips to a clean cut of pink and brown. Her face contorted, as if in pain, and when her eyes opened again, they had shifted to those exact same colors. Beside her, the paper boat shifted, growing drastically in size until it was a large parasol.

At long last, Neo Politan pulled herself to her feet, aiming a firm glare in Team Loser's direction. "That... was very impolite."

Anger surged through everyone's eyes- particularly Yang's and Jaune's, the latter of whom brandished the silver knife as he charged forward, only for Neo to deftly duck out of the way, practically cartwheeling into the cavern's center.

Nora hefted her hammer as she glared at Neo. "Die, monster!" she called out. "You don't belong in this world!"

Neo scoffed as she turned back to face them. "Monster? You see a few shadows of my abilities, and you think you know all about the scary things in the world?" Her lips broke into an all-too-familiar smirk. "You think you're ready to see me... to see me as I truly am? Well, who am _I_ to deny you?"

She reached her hands up and placed them on her head- one on top and one just below her chin. She pulled as hard as she could, and with a series of sickening cracks and crunches, twisted her head around until it was dangling, upside-down, upon her chest, still meeting their eyes with that sick grin. She leaned back, and a series of appendages began to emerge from just beneath her breasts- whether they were spider-like legs or tentacles, they couldn't tell.

"Get her!" Yang shouted. "B-b-before she c-can f-finish, g-get her!"

Ren raised his bolt gun and fired off a shot, landing right in the center of the protruding appendages. With an unearthly roar, Neo moved, using them as legs to bring herself nearer to her attackers. Nora began swinging her hammer, aiming for the legs, as Blake moved to maneuver behind It. Pyrrha ducked in front of Yang and blocked a swing of Its legs with her old bedpost before thrusting forward with it, landing a strike not far from where Ren had landed his shot.

"Yang!" Weiss shouted as she stepped back slightly. "The lights!"

Yang nodded as she ducked forward, driving a fist towards Neo's head. Behind her, Weiss had stepped onto a glyph and was now rushing towards Neo, her rapier aimed at Its torso.

A cackling laughter echoed through the chamber. "My lights? You really _are_ ambitious! Well, if you want to see..."

Jaune had just reentered the fight when Neo spun her head- around towards Yang, holding it remarkably steady for the broken neck it stood upon. Her mouth was opening again, growing wider and wider by the second- but instead of the darkness from before, yang could see a definite light within- shining brightly, yellowish-orange. She forced her gaze to remain on those lights, even as the rest of her team raised their arms to shield their eyes.

Her courage wavered slightly as she peered down Neo's throat, past rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth- it certainly explained the lamprey-like pattern etched into Blake's face. But deep down, beyond them all, she could see- she could see the source of the light, and despite all her instincts screaming at her to look away, she kept her gaze fixed.

A pulse of energy seemed to erupt from Neo's body, knocking Yang backwards across the room-

except it didn't end at the walls, or the floor. She continued sailing backwards, seemingly directly through the walls that made up the cavern. Her eyes widened as she saw the cavern vanish before her as she continued to move back- before long, she was back outside, and still moving. She caught the briefest glimpse of the upper streets of Vale, soaked in a downpour of rain, before it faded from sight as she continued. Further and further she went, seemingly rushing towards the sky- Vale had long since vanished among the rest of the landmass that was Vytal. Soon, she couldn't even make out her home continent- she was flying through space, and it didn't take long for Remnant to fade to roughly the size of a marble, before vanishing altogether from her field of view.

She had never been motion-sick before, but she thought this must be something like how it felt. She closed her eyes against the rushing wind and whirling color. By the time she opened them again, she was completely lost in her new surroundings- galaxies resembling whirlpools of light whizzed past, comets passing nearby but disappearing long before she could get a good look at them- and then, out of the corner of her vision...

The lights. She could see them approaching, a faint glow identical to what she'd witnessed within Neo. It was at the very edges of her vision, and she knew, without even remembering Ozpin's words, that she did _not_ want to see it any closer.

But her trajectory was taking her right towards it. Surrounding the glow was a gate that seemed to shine with every color from the spectrum at once- trying to pinpoint one was entirely useless. She put everything she had into halting herself before she passed through those gates- that way lay death... if she were lucky.

She dug her heels into the ground- or whatever constituted ground in this bizarre place. Looking down, she saw nothing but still more space- but she didn't let that deter her. She felt _something_ beneath her feet, and persisted- and to her relief, it wasn't long before she slowed to a stop. She immediately turned away from the gates- away from the light- and felt her eyes turn red when she spied a very familiar face behind her.

"Well, well, well... You managed to keep yourself away from my deadlights. Very impressive."

Neo's words were as condescending as ever, but there was something else there. It had only been for a fraction of a second, but just as Yang had turned herself to face her, there had been a certain expression upon the woman's face- quite different from her usual amusement and mockery.

Her eyes had been wide in surprise, and her lip had been curled slightly in... fear? Yes, there was no mistaking it- even if it was only for a split second, Neo Politan had been afraid.

Yang clenched her fists. She would see that expression again before this was over.

XXXX

"YANG!" Weiss yelped in surprise- the blond leader of their group had charged forward, and they had all seen the faint glow of the lights within Neo- until Yang suddenly collapsed, crumpling to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Her eyes were still open, but were no longer lilac _or_ red- instead, they had faded to a blind, milky white.

"She's begun the Fire Walk!" Ren called out, attempting to rally everyone together. "PROTECT HER!"

A hissing noise escaped It as it moved to drive its legs into Yang's prone form- only to let out a strangled cry as it found itself fighting against Blake and her chain again.

"Stay... the _fuck..._ AWAY FROM HER!" Blake shouted, fury alight in her amber eyes, ears pressed flat against her skull.

Its head turned to gaze at her, an odd sound of barking and mewling emerging from its lips as it began backing up, causing the chain to slacken as it went for Blake instead- only to let out a cry of pain as Pyrrha charged forward, with the assistance of one of Weiss's glyphs, plunging her makeshift spear into its shoulder. Jaune followed up by diving towards its back, moving to plunge in the silver knife. He had almost landed his hit when he was knocked off course by one of the flailing legs, taking on a more tentacle-like caste as they slammed into him and sent him back to the floor.

It managed to pull its way out of the chain, retreating away slightly before beginning to shift again, dark wings emerging from Neo's shoulderblades, her feet curling into talons. It wasn't long before a large, ferocious raven had appeared within the cavern with them, beating its wings, not to fly, but to send its large feathers at them like projectiles. They all managed to dodge, with the exception of Nora, who made her way towards Yang's fallen body, using her hammer to knock the feathers aside and defend her friend.

"Get her out of the way!" Ren called, seeing what she was doing. Nora grinned and responded with an over-the-top salute.

"Aye-aye, Cap'n!"

XXXX

"I really should be applauding you," Neo smirked, her and Yang standing amongst the field of stars. "There aren't many who've managed to avoid my deadlights once I really wanted to show them."

"I've n-n-never g-gone d-d-down easy," Yang snarled, mentally kicking herself with every failed word.

"You s-s-sure about that?" Neo taunted. "Free from your body, and you _still_ can't speak straight."

Yang met Neo's mocking gaze with a red-eyed glare.

Neo laughed. "Point taken- enough talk. If you won't look into the lights, I'll just kill you the old-fashioned way."

She focused for a moment- but nothing happened. Her eyes widened in confusion. "Hm? _That's_ new..."

Yang advanced slowly, her arms raising up, hands clenching into fists. "I'm n-n-not _h-here_ to f-f-fight m-monsters. N-no v-vampires, f-f-fell d-dragons, or w-weeping angels. I'm here for the b-b- _bitch_ who t-took my s-s-s-sister- and _th-that's_ what I'm g-going to g-get."

It happened again- for a split second, Neo seemed almost panicked- but she quickly hid it behind that damnable smirk. "If that's the way you want it," she grinned. She produced her parasol, removing the handle to reveal a long, thin blade. Yang ducked under her first swing and drove her fist forward.

Neo ducked back deftly, dodging left and right as Yang fought to make contact. Her adversary's smirk only grew with each missed strike- almost as if to infuriate Yang even more, she re-sheathed her blade, using her parasol to block several of Yang's strikes before finally responding with a kick that sent Yang flying momentarily, landing heavily on the ground. She moved to land another kick on Yang, only for Yang to roll out of the way, forcing herself back up and back on the offensive. Swing after swing hit nothing but the ether, until one particularly powerful blow intended for Neo's face was dodged via a graceful backflip. Neo landed, sitting on what seemed like nothing, crossing one leg over the other, parasol unfolding behind her, her smirk unbroken as she gazed up at her aggressor.

 _Ms. Xiao Long!_

Yang's eyes widened as a voice sounded off in her head- a very familiar one. "Ozpin?"

"Ozpin?" Neo repeated, her eyes widening- before letting out a long-suffering sigh. "Oh, you just can't leave well-enough alone, can you, old man?"

She charged forward, launching another attack, drawing Yang's attention towards blocking and evasion.

 _Don't waste time trying to speak,_ Ozpin's voice said. _I can hear your thoughts well enough._

 _Where_ are _you?_

 _Seeking your location- however, the macroverse is vast. I very much doubt that I will arrive soon enough to be of any assistance._

 _Well, that's great- any advice, then? I can't land a single hit on It!_

 _You are still thinking of things as though you were bound by the laws of Remnant. You are not- you now stand within the macroverse, where faith and willpower reign supreme. Your friends must battle according to Remnant's laws- you are under no such restrictions._

As Yang ducked another swing from Neo, she thought on what that meant. _Then... maybe, if I..._

She gazed down at her brass knuckles- carried with her even into this odd place- and as if reacting to her will, they began to change- moving and extending, until they had been replaced with a large pair of gauntlets that fit snugly on her hands. Raising one of them, she managed to deftly block one of Neo's swings.

Neo sighed- " _One_ of these days, I'll find something Old Man Stick-in-the-Mud can't fuck up for me..."

Yang drove her fist forward, and heard a satisfying crack as one of the guns built into the gauntlets fired- within this strange land, there was no recoil. She missed her mark- but it forced Neo to pull back slightly, allowing her some breathing room.

 _Well done... you are a fast learner._

 _Always have been._

 _Remain focused- slip too much, and she will undoubtedly transform._

Yang looked up to meet Neo's face. Neo tilted her head slightly. "He's teaching you all the rules, hmm? Fine by me- you just got here, but there's a part of me that's lived here my whole life."

She readied her blade and charged forward again, bringing her blade down only for it to be blocked once more- this time by a shield.

"I ever t-t-tell you about the w-war b-b-between the d-d-dragons?" Yang grunted, before pushing forward again. The new shield was made out of some sort of ivory or celestial metal, and inlaid with five stones of onyx, sapphire, emerald, ruby, and diamond.

She continued speaking as she kept up her offense- one benefit of having left her body behind was leaving behind her need to breath. "The d-d-dragon of l-light c-c-created h-humanity, b-b-but the d-dark d-d-dragon s-sought to undo wh-what she'd d-done. H-hearing h-humanity's c-cries, the d-d-dragon of l-light g-g-granted them a sh-shield imbued w-with her p-p-power- an emblem b-born from d-d-deepest flame!"

One after another, Yang blocked Neo's strikes with her new shield, continuing to narrate its backstory. Neo's eyes grew steadily narrower in agitation. "The s-shield w-w-was g-given to V-Vytal, along w-w-with one of the st-stones, while the r-remaining st-stones were s–split b-between the k-kingdoms and the f-f-faunus tribes!" Yang continued her narrative, finding- somewhat to her surprise- that as she continued to speak, her fear continued to fade. The words felt... comforting. She had spoken them to Ruby so many times- this story had been one of her sister's favorites. Even her voice was coming further under control.

"Wh-whenever the w-w-world was in p-peril, h-humanity was to unite and p-put their st-stones together, and the l-l-light d-dragon would r-return to restore p-p-peace!"

"Lovely story," Neo scoffed, alighting atop the shield and flipping off before Yang could force her off herself. "But there _is_ no dragon- not out-"

She was cut off as, at long last, Yang's fist landed true, striking her squarely in the face and sending her backwards. Yang rolled her wrist, readying the shield again before rushing back in.

XXXX

Ren found himself herded to the back of his team as he rushed to reload his gun. Nora gladly provided him cover, deflecting feather after feather from the monster assailing them.

"We have to bring it down!" Jaune called out.

"Thanks for the advice, Lagune!" Weiss called out scathingly, struggling to dodge with her broken arm weighing her down. "Any idea how to actually _do_ that?!"

"Your glyphs!" Blake called out, swinging her chain around in an effort to capture the bird, with little success. "If you can catch its tail or one of its wings in a gravity glyph-"

"Then one of us can close in for the kill!" Pyrrha finished the line of thought.

Ren looked up at Nora. "Nora- can you bring it to the walls?"

"You betcha!" Nora beamed, turning and rushing towards the beast, hammer swinging. Ren followed closely behind, bolt gun at the ready.

The bird noticed immediately, turning its attention towards her, and swinging with its talons- just as Jaune leapt on, slashing at the legs with his knife. The cuts he left were shallow, and never as damaging as what they'd dealt in the house above, but it was enough to draw the monster's attention.

Nora leapt as high as she could and brought her hammer down on the beast's skull. Weiss moved her rapier like a wand, calling forth a glyph that bound it to the ground as Ren leapt overhead, aiming directly at its forehead and firing his gun.

The bolt seemed to do little more than annoy the creature- it gave a great tug at its glyph, prompting Weiss- already struggling to hold it down- to lose her grip. Spying her out of the corner of its eye, the bird bore down on her. Weiss looked up with fear in her eyes as winged death closed in-

"AKIRA KURUSU!"

Blake was in front of her, a book held up in front of her like a shield, screaming the name at the top of her lungs.

"There are plenty of things I believe in," she snarled, meeting the bird's eyes as it seemed to stop mid-flight, pulling away. "In my friends... in the power of the written word... I even believe humans and faunus might be able to bridge their gap someday. But I do _not_ believe in you!"

She raised the book higher. "David Bowman! Shinjiro Arigaki! Auguste Dupin-"

She was forced to abandon her assault and dodge another feather flying her way. The bird was changing again, and soon enough, the form of Neo was once more clear. Gone was her usual smirk- her eyes were filled with rage. "You're starting to piss me _off_!"

From her back, a series of tentacles sprouted as her clothing was taken over by a dark suit, her face fading away to a blank stretch of white.

XXXX

For a moment, Yang was certain she was gaining ground on Neo, but it didn't take her long to realize that she'd mostly just returned the situation to how it had been before- neither of them were landing any hits on the other.

 _You're getting closer._

 _She- won't- stop- dodging!_

 _How did you land your last hit on her?_

 _I suppose I just got lucky..._

 _No! That was when you were the closest- think about what else was happening._

 _I was telling my story..._

 _And taking comfort in its words. Whoever can overwhelm their opponent is the victor in the Fire Walk- that need not be physically. As long as you are afraid, the deadlights can prevail._

 _I'm not afraid!_

 _Are you not?_

Yang took a moment to analyze her opponent- the eternal consumer of worlds and children, older than her entire universe, and capable of assuming any shape she chose.

 _After what you have experienced, a stutter seems only natural. It is a sign of Its power over you._

"It d-d-doesn't have p-p-p-p-power over m-me!" Yang yelled, anger filling her- followed by a scream as that long blade pierced her shoulder. She managed to pull away and raise her shield again, but the damage was done- she could _see_ Neo smirking overhead.

 _You must maintain control over yourself. You must look within... where lies your willpower? Do you believe in the stories you always told your sister? That when good battles evil, good will always emerge triumphant? That with the proper stance, a mortal can topple a god?_

"Yes... y-yes, I b-believe that!"

 _I am not the one you need to convince. At the moment, only two beings' opinions matter- the deadlights... and your own._

Yang blocked another strike. She thought she saw... as long as she was afraid, she wouldn't get anywhere. To defeat a monster that seemed as though it had emerged from the stories she told to her sister... she would have to become a hero from those stories.

 _Come on, Yang..._ A new voice echoed in her head, and it surprised her far more than Ozpin's- this time, it was her own. _Be the sister Ruby knew- the one she relied on. What do you do?_

Yang looked up, eyes blazing. "H-h-hotter than the s-s-sun in the m-m-middle of July... I _b-b-burn!_ "

Neo had been on the point of plunging her blade towards Yang again, when she seemed to halt in place, eyes widening. "What?"

Yang felt strength flooding back into her. She had been on her knees, her shield raised pitifully over her head- no longer. She rose back to her feet. "H-hotter than the s-sun in the middle of J-July... I b-burn!"

Neo took a step back, raising an arm as if to cover her ears. "St... stop that..."

"Hotter than the sun in the middle of July, I _burn!_ " Yang shouted- she could almost feel the flames around her, burning hotter with every repetition of her mantra.

"Stop! Saying! That!" Neo screamed, lashing out with her blade- unlike before, Yang found blocking almost _pathetically_ easy.

" _Hotter than the sun in the middle of July, bitch! HOTTER THAN THE SUN IN THE MIDDLE OF JULY, I BURN!"_

Neo screamed as Yang wrenched her blade away from her and shattered it over her knee. She swung a punch in Neo's direction, feeling nothing but satisfaction as it landed.

"Stop it! Please, stop it!"

"HOTTER THAN THE SUN IN THE MIDDLE OF JULY, I BURN!"

"You don't understand what you're doing! I'm _protecting_ Vale! Protecting it from everything else that's out there! All those things that would _love_ to make a move- but not while _I'm_ protecting my home!"

"HOTTER THAN THE SUN IN THE MIDDLE OF JULY, I BURN!"

Yang reached out and seized Neo by the throat- the woman looked truly terrified at this turn of events.

"I'll leave!" she screamed, almost in desperation. "I'll leave and never come back!" Her eyes roved around, before focusing on her again. "Let me go- just let me go, and I'll make sure the rest of your life is happy! You and your friends... you'll all leave Vale and rise to success! You won't have to be losers anymore- the world will be your oyster! Just let me go!"

Yang narrowed her eyes. "You'll give me anything?"

"Yes! Yes!"

"We'll all be rich?"

"Of course!"

"And famous?"

"The most famous people in Remnant!"

"Anything we ask for, you'll give us?"

"Name it, and it's yours!"

Yang's eyes narrowed, flickering back to red before she twisted, breaking Neo's neck. "Then give me my _sister_ back, you _bitch._ "

Neo's eyes widened as she dropped to the ground- Yang quickly followed up by driving her heel onto Neo's throat, intent on ensuring the job was complete.

She felt her heel ram into flesh, before Neo's form dissipated, shattering like a mirror, the fragments vanishing as they flew off into the distance.

Yang took a deep breath, before looking around. "What now, Oz?"

 _Ensure that the job is finished- remember, you cannot let her get away! What can be done when you are young often cannot be repeated once age has claimed you!_

"I understand," Yang nodded. "We have to finish It off on Remnant, too."

She closed her eyes, willing herself to return, and felt herself rushing through the macroverse once more, leaving it up to faith that she was returning to her own world.

XXXX

The majority of Team Loser recoiled, uncertain what weaknesses the Slender Man might possess. The sole exception was Weiss, rushing forward with anger in her eyes, rapier at the ready. She plunged her sword into Its chest... but It hardly reacted at all, raising one of its tentacles and swinging it at her face.

The others rushed in to pull Weiss back, flinching when they heard her scream.

"Weiss!" Jaune yelled, grabbing her before she could land on the ground. "Are you okay?!"

Weiss looked up at him- she could hardly see out of one of her eyes, filled as it was with the color red. "Is... is it bad?" she asked weakly.

"It nearly took your eye out," Jaune muttered. "But... we thought it would be worse..."

Weiss raised a hand and felt along her left eye, flinching when she took it away to see her hand soaked in blood. Far from her usual fear, however, she found herself filled with anger as she returned to her feet.

"I'm gonna fucking _kill_ you!" she screeched, seizing the nearest weapon- Ren's bolt gun- and aiming it directly at the Slender Man's forehead.

"Weiss!" Pyrrha called out. "It's not-"

"No!" Ren shouted over her. "Let her- let her do it!"

Heedless to the screaming around her, Weiss readied the gun and fired.

The Man recoiled, another earth-shattering cry filling the cavern as it flailed around, tentacles flailing wildly.

"What'd I miss?"

Everyone jumped and turned to see Yang rushing towards them from the hiding place Nora had left her.

"Yang!" Nora let out a scream of joy, leaping forward and pulling her into a hug. "You're back!"

"The deadlights are out!" Yang announced. "We have to finish It _now!"_

"The knife- where's the knife?" Ren asked urgently, scanning the ground.

"I- I don't know!" Jaune admitted. "I... I dropped it when I was fighting the giant bird!"

"You just couldn't leave well enough alone, _could_ you?!"

Everyone turned to see Neo, back to her original form, a truly enraged look on her face. "A dozen or so people every twenty-seven years- that's _barely_ a person every other year! Is that too much to ask for my undying protection?! Everyone else in your town seems to be with the program- why aren't _you?!_ "

She broke into a run, moving on all fours as she charged right at them.

"There!" came a cry- Blake had seen a glint of silver across the cave, and dove for it as the others returned to defending. She reached out, grabbing onto the knife's handle and tossing it across the cavern.

Pyrrha watched as it hurled towards Jaune- she could practically see it in slow motion, spinning around and around. Her heart jumped when she realized, _It's not going to make it!_

Almost unconsciously, she reached out her own hand towards the knife, though she was nowhere near close enough to take it herself. In a daze, she saw a dark aura light up the end of her hand- an aura mirrored on the knife itself. Its spinning slowed- Jaune looked up to see it hurling through the air, and seemingly almost on instinct, reached up, turned around, and struck.

His aim was true, driving the knife's silver blade directly into the breast of Neo Politan.

Immediately, Neo recoiled. The shriek that filled the cavern was like nothing they'd ever heard before, as her hands raised and began scrabbling at the handle of the knife, protruding from her chest. Where her hand touched the precious metal, it steamed and smoked as though it was burning, but she made no move to stop until the knife finally came out, clattering to the ground before her. She pulled away from Team Loser, shoving a fist into the new wound as she crawled backwards.

Team Loser took far less time to recover than she did- they all rose to their feet, watching as she pulled herself desperately across the ground towards a small opening not too far behind her- it almost seemed to resemble yet another well. Her movements were odd, more like a spider than a human, but that didn't deter them. Jaune moved forward, wordlessly grabbing the silver knife on the ground and handing it to Yang, allowing her the honor of the killing blow.

They closed in swiftly. As they did, Yang thought she heard Neo muttering something. Straining her ears, she caught it-

"Hotter than the sun in the middle of July, I burn... h-hotter than the sun the m-m-middle of July, I b-burn..."

Fury built up in her as they closed in. Neo looked up to see them approaching and practically backflipped into the well, clinging on to the edge as she looked up at them.

Yang looked down, hesitating slightly as she noticed the odd transformations in Neo's form. Her eyes had changed, uniting in a bright yellow color as they gazed out of the well. Far more noticeably, however, she seemed to be... crumbling. It was as if her body was ash, and steadily falling apart- half her head had already vanished into the pit behind her.

"H-h-hotter th-than the s-s-sun in the m-m-middle of J-July, I..."

Neo's eyes- what was left of them, at least- locked onto Yang's, bright yellow meeting furious scarlet. Yang swung the knife around, holding overhand as she prepared to end this.

"Fear."

Neo released the edge.

Her body plummeted into the blackness, the wind rushing up at her back seeming to finish the job, breaking up what remained of her body and scattering it to the wind.

"We have to go down there," Yang said immediately.

"Are you sure?" Blake asked, not sounding at all keen on the idea.

"We _have_ to make sure It's dead!"

"Looked pretty dead to me," Nora threw in her two lien.

Ren, however, spotted something else to capture his interest. "Guys... they're coming down."

The others spun to see the gelatinous membrane keeping the corpses fastened to the wall dissolving, fading away into nothing, the corpses steadily sliding to the ground in its absence.

"Can we... can we take that as a sign that it _is_ dead?" Jaune asked hopefully, throwing a glance at Ren, who could only shrug.

Blake, however, gasped, her eyes fixed on an area of the cave separate from all the bodies. "Oh... no..."

The others followed her gaze- Weiss clapped a hand over her mouth, while Nora's jaw dropped. The most prominent reaction, however, came from Yang, whose eyes widened as she moved forward.

Against the cave wall, opposite from the well It had vanished into, was a large red cloak. Team Loser followed behind Yang as she took one slow step after another across the cavern floor, before finally kneeling and reaching out.

A rattling sound echoed through the small space as Yang turned the cloak over to reveal a skeleton, a pair of empty eye sockets gazing at the ceiling. The left arm was missing, and the bones that remained had quite clearly been picked clean long, long ago.

Team Loser's hearts grew heavy as Yang began to sob. It started slowly, a light bobbing in her shoulders, but before long, she was letting out wails of despair as she pulled what remained of her sister into a tight embrace. Weiss and Blake knelt down beside her, pulling her into a hug on each side, Nora following up as she attempted to wrap her arms around all three. Pyrrha knelt on Nora's left, Jaune on her right, and Ren knelt behind, everyone struggling to grant Yang any comfort they could- even the smallest amount.

And while it may well have been his imagination, but years later, Ren still felt that, for a brief moment, he'd seen the skeleton's remaining arm attempting to lift itself up, as though trying to return its sister's embrace.

 _XXXX_

Gamer4 out.


	49. Team Loser Performs a Ritual (2) (A)

Gamer4 in.

Disclaimer:...

Chapter XLVII

Team Loser Performs a Ritual (Part II)

The wind blowing through the town of Vale continued to increase in intensity, driving the rain almost vertically through the buildings. The previously sunny sky had been blackened by dark clouds, flashing with light and rumbling with thunder.

"This _is_ odd," Dr. Oobleck mused as he hurried back home, cutting his day on the town short. "There was no sign of this before..."

On the other side of town, Klein Sieben had fallen into a trancelike state, eyes closed and whispering various words and phrases under his breath. "Ice, dancing, water, power-ade, grapes... Weiss... Weiss... protect Weiss..."

Ilia was making her way back towards the airport from whence she'd come, but strongly suspected this poor weather would delay any flights out of here. It didn't matter- she'd get out one way or another. She wasn't certain if it was her faunus senses or something else- something even deeper, more primal- but she knew, above all else, that she had to leave this town as soon as she could.

Goodwitch had left the shower and returned to lie down on her sofa upon hearing the scream- she was struggling against the sudden pain in her shoulder where she'd been stabbed all those years ago. Looking out her window, she found herself mouthing words even she didn't understand as she saw nature's fury raging on the outside.

Ren turned in his sleep, but found himself unable to return to consciousness- instead dreaming of an endless series of dark tunnels winding beneath the town, the events of that summer playing on an infinite loop in his mind.

Somewhere in those tunnels, he knew, the final battle was being waged.

XXXX

"That is one ugly motherfucker!" Nora couldn't help but screech as a monstrous shape made its way into the cavern alongside them.

"Is that... is that what it really looks like?" Jaune asked, eyes wide as he readied the silver knife.

"Yes," Weiss nodded, before biting her lip. "Er- no... not exactly?"

Even as she charged into danger, Yang found herself wondering the same thing. On some level, she knew this wasn't _exactly_ Its true form- but at the same time, it wasn't another mask, either. Rather, it seemed that It was _attempting_ to show off Its truest form, but this was the closest it could manage outside the infinite world of the Macroverse.

The monster stood nearly as tall at the chamber, on three legs as large as tree trunks. Whether they ended in hooves or claws, it was difficult to tell. It was covered in flesh of mottled grey and black, still seemingly burned by its trip through the atmosphere. From several points in its body, odd appendages protruded, seeming like claws and tentacles in one stroke. More disturbing, however, were the numerous _faces_ twisted into its skin- expressions ranging from excruciating pain to intense fury, all seeming to scream at Team Loser as they looked upon them.

Despite the numerous appendages, there _was_ an obvious pair of arms, ending in hands bearing long, spider-like fingers, complete with knife-like claws at the end. A head seemed to stand atop the form, but held no eyes or nose- only a large, misshapen hole filled with lamprey-like teeth. The top of Its head curled away into yet another tentacle, longer than any of the others surrounding It.

A pair of slight bulges protruded from a broad chest, and between them was a hideous, jagged scar- the origins of which Yang had just now remembered.

"Your l-l-lights!" she shouted as she bore down on this _beast._ "Sh-show m-me your _f-f-fucking lights!_ "

It roared and swung one of Its tentacles in her direction- she leapt out of the way.

"I doubt It will show you Its lights as easily as last time!" Weiss shouted, utilizing a glyph to close the distance between herself and the creature. "Not after what happened then!"

"That just means we need to make It," Jaune growled, keeping quick on his feet as he looked for an opening.

"Let's get to it!" Nora called. "I owe you some broken legs, bitch!"

The creature persisted, unleashing Its otherworldy screams as It flailed Its tentacles around, eager to spear any of them upon the edges.

"I- think I liked it better- when It stuck to Its human form," Nora grunted out as she used her hammer to block several attacks on her person.

" _I_ liked it better when _Blake_ was here to pin It down!" Weiss agreed.

"She's n-n-not!" Yang called out. "So sh-shut up and f-f-focus on h-hurting It! Expose the l-l-lights!"

Weiss nodded, leaping back onto a glyph and using it to launch her into a series of others, rapidly darting back and forth around the creature. It flailed harder, struggling to catch her as one might struggle to catch an irksome fly.

Pyrrha saw an opportunity and took it, turning her spear around and tossing it with all her strength- she caught the monster in the shoulder, knocking it backwards. Weiss immediately followed up, targeting Its other shoulder for piercing with Myrtenaster. Nora smirked wickedly as she leapt overhead, bringing her hammer down on Its head.

"JAUNE! NOW!" Yang called, not bothering to look and find out whether he was following- she knew he was.

Sure enough, as she bore down on the creature, a flash of blond appeared in the corner of her vision. She couldn't help smiling slightly as the silver knife flashed. A last pull from the creature meant it didn't land anywhere fatal, but it was enough to bring forth those much-reviled lights. Yang dug her fingers into the wound, forcing it wider and gazing directly into the bright yellow glow.

Pyrrha moved quickly, catching Yang's collapsing form before she hit the ground and carrying her away to safety. In her absence, the monster wrenched the spear from Its shoulder and tossed it aside, returning to Its feet and prompting Weiss to drop. Nora spun her hammer around, aiming for one of the trunk-like legs, but was forced to shift to another block before she could land.

XXXX

When Yang opened her eyes, it was not to the same view of the Macroverse she had found when she had last performed this ritual. She was in a building, of some sort- a building straight out of an Escher painting, stairs twisting all around in all directions. It reminded her of a movie she'd seen as a child- _The Maze._ The climax had taken place in a remarkably similar setting.

"Like what I've done with the place?"

Yang spun around to see Neo standing there, parasol cast aside and blade in hand. Her words had sounded typically mocking, but it didn't match the look in her eye- she looked furious.

" _Y-you_ changed it?"

"I figured it would come to this," Neo sighed. "You losers have always been _incorrigible,_ haven't you? I let you escape this town, and hold up _my_ end of the bargain out of the sheer _kindness_ of my heart, and you _still_ feel the need to come back and _fuck everything up_ for me!"

Yang readied her arms, already feeling her old gauntlets materializing there. " _Y-you_ started this f-f-fight. You k-killed R-R-Ruby... you k-k-killed Blake... you k-killed _so m-many others..._ it stops _n-now._ "

Neo's eyes narrowed. "You caught me off guard last time. This time, there will be no holding back. You already destroyed one of my children... no more."

Before Yang could retort, Neo had sprung forward, blade flashing. Yang blocked with a gauntlet and ducked underneath, attempting an uppercut that Neo deftly dodged.

"It didn't have to be this way," Neo spoke, scorn clear in her voice as she kept up her assault. "I even had a peace offering all ready for you- but you clearly won't be needing it."

"There's not a _d-d-damn_ thing you c-c-could g-give me that w-would stop me from k-killing you!" Yang shouted back, once again taken by the frustration of being unable to land a hit.

"Not even your boyfriend?" Neo asked mockingly.

Yang's punches increased in intensity, but decreased in accuracy. " _You f-f-fucker! I knew you h-had him!"_

"He and Arc's girlfriend walked right into my arms," Neo smirked. "A quick glimpse of my lights, and she was dead- but he got lucky. He's just in a coma- or at least, he _was._ "

Yang fired a series of blasts from her gauntlets, still hardly used to the lack of recoil within the Macroverse. "Then I'll t-t-take him b-back- once you're d-dead!"

"Too late for that," Neo chirped, her smirk rising to meet her eyes. "Not that you'll manage it, but even if you _did_ kill me, it's too late for him- Winchester didn't wake up for twenty years after _he_ saw my lights- and you saw just how well he recovered, even then." Her voice took a more thoughtful caste. "Just another person killed by their association with you. How many is that, now? Ruby... Blake... Ren's still alive, I suppose, but not for lack of trying... hell, even Ozpin died a few years back."

"Bull _shit!"_

Neo backflipped away before meeting Yang's eyes again- the fury was truly gone now, replaced with a sick glee. "Oh, you thought I was _lying._ No, no, no, he's dead, alright- ate one too many black holes, I guess. Don't believe me? See for yourself!"

She attacked and managed to break through Yang's guard, sending her down the stone pathway they'd been fighting on and through a nearby door.

On the other side was a large stone chamber, starlight filtering in from above. On a raised dais in the rooms center was an odd coffin, made of what seemed to be ice, or a similar crystalline material. Enshrined within it was the unmoving body of the entity once known to Yang as Ozpin.

Yang felt her heart drop. "No... _n-no!"_

"I can be a woman of my word when I want to be," came Neo's mocking voice over her shoulder. "Everyone you've ever loved is dead, or dying. Oh- except your mother, of course- she ditched you as soon as you were born. Smart woman- probably figured she wouldn't last a month with _you_ around."

"St-st-stop it..."

"How long do you think your friends will last back on Remnant? A quick death, in a few minutes? Or will they keep fighting for hours, until they've lost all energy... lost all hope... huddling together for any solace they can find, cursing the woman who forced them all into this hell as death comes for them..."

"St-STOP IIIIIIIIIT!"

XXXX

Things weren't going well back on Remnant.

They had started off the fight strong enough, but the monster seemed to be recovering _far_ too well for their liking. It was all they could do to keep it at bay, let alone go on the offensive- especially with Yang out of the picture.

"We need to destroy the eggs!" Jaune called from one side of the chamber. "We _can't_ let there be more of these things!"

"A little preoccupied with the mother right now, thanks!" Weiss pointed out as she utilized a glyph to dodge what would surely have been a fatal blow.

Pyrrha, however, got a light in her eyes. She turned to one side, where several eggs lay side-by-side, and unhesitatingly plunged her spear into them, ripping them apart.

Almost immediately, the creature let out another roar as It turned towards her, and began to bear down.

"We can _use_ the eggs!" Pyrrha called back as she raised her shield to block one tentacle as she leapt out of the way of another. "Destroy them, and draw Its attention!"

"MY KINDA PLAN!" Nora called out, smirking as she brought her hammer down on another of the pulsating objects.

The monster roared as it spun around, struggling to grab at both women at once- except they were on near opposite sides of the cavern.

Abruptly, Pyrrha's eyes widened. A realization came to her that she was hearing the sounds It was making twice- first out loud, then, on some deeper level- practically within her own head. Even this, however, wasn't what prompted the widening of her eyes- beneath the roars of the creature in her head, she heard something else- a harrowing scream that sounded very much like it was coming from their leader.

Jaune seemed to have sensed it too- it was he who called out, "Yang's in trouble!"

They all knew it- in much the same way they had previously sensed the danger Ren was in, they all knew that the Fire Walk wasn't going well.

Yang was losing.

"What do we do?" Weiss asked, using a glyph to dart beneath their opponent.

Jaune bit his lip. "Someone- someone needs to go under with her- she needs backup!"

"And that sounds like a job for the Mighty Valkyrie!" Nora called, grinning as she hefted her hammer. "Can I get an opening, Jaune?"

"Nora, we should think this through," Pyrrha spoke up. "This is our last chance!"

"Hey, _I_ was friends with her _way_ before you guys- even before Weissy!" Nora pointed out. "Besides... I owe these lights some broken legs, remember?"

She swung her hammer around and smashed another egg. "Hey, bitch! You just gonna eat and run? Don't ya know that cotton candy's the best flavor?"

Another swing of her hammer, another desicated egg. "HEY! YOU LISTEN TO ME WHEN I'M TALKING!"

The creature had, indeed, taken notice of her, bearing down on her swiftly as she smashed egg after egg beneath her hammer, keeping a steady glare in the monster's direction all the while.

Nora waited until the last second to dive to the side, taking care to smash another egg upon landing. The others quickly closed in, Weiss summoning another glyph- this time for Jaune. Jaune blinked as time seemed to slow around him, but he took it in stride, leaping forward and plunging his knife into another one of the tentacles, unleashing the light once more.

The others quickly averted their eyes, but Nora fought to stare directly into them- it was more difficult than looking into the sun, but she didn't dare look away.

She felt her body crumpling to the ground... but at the same time, she was still standing, watching as her friends continued to struggle on. Her body landed on the ground, and whatever new form she inhabited took off, soaring away from the tunnels, away from Vale, away from Remnant- off into the infinite unknown.

Far below, the struggle continued- Pyrrha grabbed Nora's body and carried it to the side as Jaune and Weiss fought to keep It away from her. The lights were gone almost unnaturally fast, leaving the monster screeching in pain and fury as it redoubled its efforts to kill them all.

XXXX

 _So,_ this _is the Macroverse,_ Nora mused. _Don't know what I expected..._

Stars screamed by, galaxies whizzing past faster than she could determine what they looked like.

It was difficult to determine how much control she actually had over herself in this bizarre world- she _seemed_ to be going where she desired, but without truly recognizing her surroundings, how could she say?

A nebula flew past in the vague shape of a horse's head- she passed through a vast cloud, eyes widening as she felt the taste of raspberries.

She went farther.

She closed her eyes, and found herself calling out into the void. "Yang? Where are you? _Yang?!_ "

She opened her eyes again, and swiftly widened them in awe at what she now saw.

It was no longer stars whizzing past, but orbs- orbs filled with... light? Stars? Galaxies? All of the above, and more. What was it Ozpin had said?

 _There are far more worlds than these._

Each orb contained another world. Looking behind her, she located her own- if she concentrated hard enough, she caught a glimpse of her friends, still struggling against the beast lurking beneath Vale.

But that orb over there...

She focused on it, and gasped at what she saw.

Ruby was alive- alive, and older than she'd been when she'd disappeared. She was fighting alongside Team Loser- except their weapons were _far_ more advanced than anything Nora had ever witnessed. She could almost see herself- far younger, around the age she'd been during the first fight against It- using a mechanical hammer that, in one fluid motion, shifted into a grenade launcher.

Scanning the fighters, she realized that Pyrrha was missing- where could _she_ be? Surely, it wasn't Team Loser without the red-headed amazon. Even Blake was there, every bit as alive as the last time Nora had seen her.

She tore her gaze away, eyes roving towards the other orbs.

A mansion- a vast mansion perched upon a hill, even larger on the inside than it was on the outside, populated by beings of many, _many_ different descriptions. There were creatures she was tempted to describe as faunus, but they held more animal features than the faunus of _her_ world- they looked very much like actual animals standing on two legs.

And in _that_ orb, she saw a vast canyon- a gulch in the middle of a desert, currently being fought over by soldiers wearing two colors of armor- deep red and bright blue. Overhead, someone else was watching- no doubt unaware that _they_ were being observed in turn.

Nora gazed into one final orb- this world was perhaps the strangest of all. There were no faunus, and the people of this world had no semblances. For reasons beyond what she could understand, her gaze was shifted towards two locations in particular- a large building at the edge of a vast city, where many people spoke together, laying out the plans for the next 'volume' the next volume of _what,_ she couldn't say.

The other location was at the edge of a small forest- a room where a strange man with scraggly facial hair tapped away on a computer, words obediently coming into being before him, reflecting off a small pair of round glasses.

That was enough- she tore her gaze away from the orbs. She wasn't here to look into other worlds- she was here to save her friend. But how to find her? She was traveling through an infinite void, with no idea of where to go. She closed her eyes as despair started to close in. What could she do?

"Nora..."

Her eyes snapped open again- there was a bright light behind her, a light she didn't dare look into, remembering the things Ozpin had said.

"Nora, it's okay. Please... look at me."

Those words... they weren't spoken in the harsh, mocking voice of Neo. They carried a soft comfort in them, something she doubted the deadlights would be capable of reproducing. Slowly, she turned.

The light was brighter than she'd expected- these were not the dull, yellow-orange deadlights. It was almost as if she were looking into a star, except she felt no pain or immediate need to look away. Pulsating waves rolled off the figure in the center of it all- vaguely humanoid, though she could make out no features. When she looked at it, she felt as if she could see far more than she'd seen in any of the orbs behind her. Looking into this light, she felt as though she were gazing upon everything that was, had been, or ever could be.

"I... wow..." she stammered out.

"You have come a long way," the being spoke. "You sensed your friend was in trouble, and immediately moved to come to her aid."

There was something familiar in the voice... in some odd way, it reminded her of Ren.

But then the words the being had spoken registered- the calming effect this being had had vanished, and she started to panic. "Right! Yang! Yang is in trouble- I need to find her!"

"I will send you to her soon," the voice assured her. "She has a bright, vibrant will... but the deaths so many... her sister, her friend... the injury of Lie Ren, and the kidnaping of her loved one... it seems learning of Ozpin's death finally pushed her over the edge, sapping her will to continue fighting."

"Ozpin... Ozpin really _is_ dead?" Nora asked. It was odd, feeling such regret for the death of one she hadn't recalled existing until only a few minutes before.

"He is. As it was not related to the deadlights, I won't tell you how- but he died as he lived, doing the duties I had set him."

"That _you..._ you... who are you?"

The light seemed to shine more brightly. "You know who I am. Don't think I'm not ready to put my life on the line as well- my goal was never to live forever, but to create something that would. And I believe in your ability to keep living. Even now, I believe in your friend- and those who stand behind her.

"With you at her side, she does indeed burn- she burns with human spirit. I believe that human spirit is indomitable- that should you endeavor to achieve, it _will_ happen. It did not happen in Ozpin's lifetime, and I believe he _would_ regret that- but he still wouldn't have hesitated to do what he must. He knew, as I do, that the effort one puts into any task transcends oneself- and so, there _is_ no futility, even in death."

Nora found herself smiling. "You believe we can stop the deadlights?"

"I _know_ you can. The time has come- I will send you to your friend. From there, it will be up to you to prevail."

Nora couldn't help but smile as the worlds around her began to fade into the light. She closed her eyes, waiting for the right moment.

"Thank you... Dancer."

XXXX

Yang stood, anger fueling her as she spun around to face Neo again, raising her fist and swinging forward- but Neo stepped aside and swung her blade. In her blind fury, Yang failed to dodge or block, instead feeling intense pain as her right arm was separated from the rest of her body. She collapsed back to the ground, screaming as she looked at the stub that remained, severed cleanly at the elbow.

"I warned you already," Neo growled, anger returning to her eyes as she drew near. "You could barely beat me before, when you were all _children._ You've lost every advantage you had... your numbers are shorter, your divine _backer_ is dead... and you're too old. You're ALL. TOO. _OLD!"_

"HEY, FUCKFACE!" screamed another voice, drawing the attention of both women in the chamber. "YOU'RE _NEVER_ TOO OLD TO ROCK AND ROLL!"

A wall collapsed, revealing a vast starscape behind- in the center of the explosion stood a familiar woman in pink, grinning maniacally as she hefted a hammer over her shoulder.

"N-N-Nora?" Yang stared, open-mouthed, at this new development.

"That's not _possible_!" Neo snarled, quickly forcing down the panic that had momentarily appeared in her eyes- after all, she had only been counting on _Yang's_ appearance. "How did _you_ get here?!"

"A little divine inspiration," Nora grinned, bringing her hammer around- as she did, it shifted just as she had witnessed in that odd other world- transforming from a hammer to a grenade launcher, before she opened fire. Several canisters came flying out, forcing Neo to leap back to avoid them.

"But he's _dead!_ Ozpin is _dead!"_

"Yup," Nora nodded grimly. "But not the Dancer!"

"Ozpin _is_ the Dancer!"

"You sure about that?" Nora asked, turning her launcher back into a hammer as she stepped in. "Come on, Yang- you brought us here, I ain't doing all the fighting by myself!"

"I... I c-c-can't... she's t-t-too..."

"'Too' nothing! Are you Yang Xiao Long, or are you _Yang Xiao Motherfucking Long?!_ We're in the Macroverse, for crying out loud- get up and fight!"

Yang's eyes opened wide, the red returning to them. She nodded, almost halfheartedly. "H-h-hotter than the s-s-sun in the m-middle of J-July..."

"You _burn!_ " Nora cheered as Yang forced herself to her feet. Light surrounded the stump of her arm, eventually leaving to reveal a sleek, metallic arm filling the space where her old arm had been severed. It was spray-painted a bright yellow, and as she drew it back, she could _feel_ it opening up into a gun of a similar style to the old gauntlet.

She fired at Neo, who leapt out of the way, rushing forward with her blade. Nora ducked behind and swung her hammer, sending Neo out of the hole she'd just created into the greater Macroverse. The two women were close behind.

Neo flipped back onto her feet, swinging her blade to block another swing from the hammer, but was too slow to defend from the bionic fist driven into her chest, or from the shotgun-blast that discharged from it. She staggered backwards, eyes filling with hate as she prepared for the next strike.

The battle had grown considerably lopsided- and not at all in her favor. She had been forced onto the defensive- and memories of the last time this had happened seemed to be haunting her.

"Fuck _you,_ Vacuo!" Nora called almost cheerily as she swung her hammer- Neo dodged right into the kick Yang had aimed her way, sending her back into Nora's embrace, swinging her hammer directly at Neo's head.

Her form shattered, as though they'd been watching her in a mirror that had just broken apart. The shards disappeared as they fell into the infinite abyss.

"That's _it?_ " Nora wondered, looking around in surprise. "I thought she'd be harder!"

"No... she d-did this _l-last_ time, t-too," Yang shook her head, red eyes still gazing around. "Tricked me into l-leaving early by m-making it l-look like she was d-dead..."

"Well, _I_ ain't about to leave until the job's done!" Nora called out. "You hear that, bitch? We ain't leaving 'til we've got a body to show for all our hard work!"

She began spinning her hammer wildly around, aiming at nothing in particular. Yang glared around the void- even the building they had all emerged from had disappeared. An idea occurred to her.

"Hotter than the s-sun in the m-middle of July, I b-burn!" she called out.

"Yang?" Nora asked, glancing at her battle partner as if she'd lost her mind.

"Hotter than the sun in the middle of July, I burn!" Yang repeated. " _Hotter than the sun in the middle of July, I burn!_ HOTTER THAN THE SUN IN THE MIDDLE OF JULY, I BURN!"

Her eyes finally closed in on a slight distortion- she glanced with her eyes, and Nora immediately charged, picking up on her old friend's signal.

The hammer swung, and they heard Neo's scream.

She had appeared in the midst of still more mirror-like shards, appearing almost from nothing. Nora's hammer had flown true, smashing into her legs, sending her spreading onto the ground.

Yang moved swiftly, grabbing her by the throat and holding her up.

There was no mockery in Neo's eyes anymore- there wasn't even room for hate. All there was left was sheer terror of this strange new situation she'd found herself in.

"Yang... Yang!" she forced out through the fingers closing around her throat. "I'm... the only one of my kind... thanks to you and your friends... I don't even have my children anymore... think what _Ruby_ would want... for her sister to be a murderer? To commit genocide?"

"Don't listen to her, Yang!" Nora called out warningly, hammer at the ready.

"Yang... if you kill me... there will never be anything like me... ever again..."

For the slightest moment, Yang's eyes seemed to flicker back to their customary amethyst...

Before suddenly burning redder than they ever had before. " _Good,_ " she hissed, before raising her thumbs and driving them as deep as she could into Neo's eye sockets. Deeper and deeper they went, pressing through the organs and deeper into the skull. Neo shrieked as Yang's thumbs penetrated deeper and deeper, flames springing to life around her, spreading to the woman she was attacking.

XXXX

Neo Politan's last thought was that maybe... just _maybe..._ It wasn't so immortal after all.

XXXX

The screaming stopped, allowing Yang to pull away and realize she was no longer holding Neo Politan, but a charred corpse. She tossed her away, before turning to Nora.

"Heh..." Nora gave a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of her head. "Er... remind me never to get on _your_ bad side...?"

"Beep beep, Nora," Yang waved her aside. "Come on- we need to get back and help the others-"

The world around them began trembling, causing Yang to stumble and Nora to let out a squeak as she fell down on her butt. Yang's eyes widened. "What- this didn't happen last time! What's going on- this didn't happen last time!"

"Dancer man!" Nora called out into the darkness- it was Yang's turn to look at her partner as if she'd lost all sanity. "Dancer guy- what's going on?"

It only caused more surprise in Yang's mind when a voice actually answered.

"The lights are extinguished- mostly. Even what remains will be gone soon enough- but in the meantime, it seeks to sever your connection to Remnant. If it succeeds... you will be unable to return to your home world."

"What do we do?" Nora asked, eyes widening in fear.

"Make your way back towards the gate," the voice responded immediately. Somehow, they both found their attention drawn to one point of light in particular- without asking, they _knew_ that was the way. "Set your sights, and don't stop. Trust in your friends- from their position on Remnant, they may be able to buy you some more time. Trust in them, and _keep moving forward."_

The voice fell silent, leaving Yang and Nora little else to do but follow its advice- sprinting as hard as they could through this endless field of stars towards one point of light in particular.

XXXX

The fight continued to rage in the caverns beneath Remnant, the remaining Losers doing everything they could to stomp out eggs and keep the monster away from them at the same time. The fear and adrenaline coursing through their veins seemed to extend the time, turning what may have been as little as twenty minutes into several hours.

Nonetheless, they definitely noticed when the monster stopped in the middle of the cavern, suddenly screaming, mewling, flailing around as if in great pain.

"It... it's hurt?" Jaune asked of nobody. "But... who? Pyrrha?"

"Not me," Pyrrha shook her head. "Weiss?"

"No- it was Yang and Nora," Weiss realized, a smile breaking across her face. "They did it- they extinguished the deadlights. For real this time- they actually _did_ it!"

The screams of pain echoed through them all- in their ears and minds alike.

But then came another voice- a much more harrowing scream.

 _The deadlights- they're gone... but..._

 _HEEEEEEEEEELP!_

" _More trouble?"_ Pyrrha gasped.

"They're trying to get back... but It's trying to close the way!" Jaune muttered, his eyes closed as he attempted to discern the feelings running through him.

They all turned towards the monster, still writhing in the center of the cavern. "But It's still connected to this thing, right?" Weiss muttered, readying her rapier.

Jaune nodded. "Close in- let's end this."

They rushed forward, making their way towards what remained of It upon the cavern floor, when it reared back and began to shine. The same lights they had all begun to fear above all else poured out of the eyes and mouths of the faces surrounding the monster. Jaune and Pyrrha staggered as they caught sight of it, lowering down to the ground, eyes wide and mouths open.

Weiss managed to move faster, raising her arm to cover her own eyes, though she dropped her rapier in the process. "Pyrrha! Jaune!" she cried, before turning back to the monster, struggling to keep her eyes on It without looking into the lights.

Fury coursed through her- "What... did I tell you... about _fucking with my friends?!_ "

She pressed forward, hand moving almost unconsciously to the pouch about her waist, finally closing her fingers around her old, trusty inhaler. She raised it up as she drew near- " _Omega dust, bitch! Go back to Hell, where you belong!_ "

She sprayed, and the monster's screams increased in intensity, just as the light pouring from it did the opposite, steadily fading to the point that Weiss felt safe to remove her hand.

But it was too late- she screamed as she felt one of the raving tentacles pierce through her chest, lifting her up above the monster, looking down at the misshapen hole that was all it had for a face. It bore her nearer, snarling.

"And... fuck _you,_ too!" Weiss snarled right back, raising her arm and plunging it into the beasts mouth, continuing to spray the inhaler's contents, causing the beast even more pain as it flailed around, screeching and mewling.

XXXX

Yang and Nora continued their sprint- at last, they could see the source of the light, beaming brightly amidst the vast cosmos.

...And shrunken to the point that one of them alone would barely fit through it.

"No!" Nora cried out, increasing her pace.

In the middle of the light, they thought they could see two arms reaching through- arms very familiar to them. Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos, it seemed, were reaching across the worlds in an effort to pull them back- but the hole was simply too small.

"Are we... screwed?" Nora asked, fatigue suddenly setting in on her with remarkable swiftness.

"I... think we might be..." Yang admitted, faltering on her own.

Before they could lay down and simply accept their fate, a deafening screech echoed through the void, and the doorway expanded, suddenly the size of a great gate. Their eyes widened, and they felt a second wind, continuing their run.

Pyrrha and Jaune appeared, eyes widening as they looked into the Macroverse for the first time. Before they could say anything, though, Yang and Nora were there, charging through the door as they called out, "NO! GO BACK- THIS PLACE IS COLLAPSING, GO _BACK!_ "

Ultimately, the door shut behind them just as the last loser had crossed through.

XXXX

Yang's eyes flickered open to reveal the cavern ceiling above her- she'd never thought she'd be so glad to see it. She quickly rose to her feet, spying Nora out of the corner of her eye, rubbing her head as she pulled herself up. "Man... did I just do a Fire Walk, or was I just on acid the whole time?"

Yang smiled briefly before turning to the creature in the cavern's center- and her heart dropped when she saw Weiss Schnee impaled upon one of Its tentacles, her arm shoved deep into Its mouth.

Weiss continued screaming as she pulled at the inhaler's trigger again and again, intent on fighting until she couldn't anymore.

That time came as the beast came to Its senses enough to close Its mouth. Weiss's screams took a turn for the pained as she felt a hundred jagged teeth tear into her arm, ultimately ripping it away from her, leaving her at the mercy of the tentacle sticking through her chest.

It flailed around, ultimately dislodging her and sending her careening into the wall, before crumpling onto the floor.

"WEISS!"

Pyrrha and Jaune had both been revived just in time to see this final spectacle. Weiss smiled slightly as four faces came into view- the faces of all her friends, kneeling down above her prone form.

"This... is certainly an inconvenience..." she struggled to say, blood pooling in her mouth. "Yang... Nora... you made it back."

"Don't talk, Ice Queen," Nora shook her head, holding Weiss's remaining hand in her own as she struggled to look comforting. "We'll get you out of here, everything's going to be-"

"I thought... I told you not to call me Ice Queen," Weiss admonished, the effect ruined by a slight smile. "I always... hated it when you..."

A bright light seemed to have appeared above Weiss- she couldn't tell if it was real, or a product of her dying mind. An angelic face appeared within its center, smiling gently down at her with bright, silver eyes. A small hand extended out towards her- a hand she found herself reaching back towards in spite of herself.

Weiss Schnee did not speak her last thoughts aloud, whether for physical reasons or mental. She kept this final thought to herself, even as the cavern began to fade away around her.

 _Ruby._

XXXX

"Weiss? Weiss!" Nora screamed as Weiss went limp in her arms. Around her, the rest of her team's eyes were filling with tears.

Pyrrha looked up from the ground, only for her sorrow to be immediately washed aside in anger. "YOU!" she screamed. A black aura coated her hand, summoning her spear to her, allowing her to throw it across the cavern. "YOU ARE _NOT_ GETTING AWAY AGAIN!"

The other losers jumped to their feet, spinning around to see the creature scrabbling its way across the cavern floor towards the very well it had escaped into twenty-seven years ago.

"NOT THIS TIME, BITCH!" Nora called out, an animalistic fury rising within her. "YOU ARE _NOT_ COMING BACK WHEN I'M OLD AND GREY!"

Pyrrha's spear had pinned it to the floor for the moment, long enough for them to cross the short distance between them. Jaune readied his knife, Nora her hammer, and Yang cracked her knuckles as they bore down on their prey.

The scene was... grisly. Jaune and Pyrrha slashed away at the waving tentacles, as Nora let loose with primal cries as she brought her hammer down again and again. Yang grabbed the appendages and ripped them away with her bare hands, strength backed up by the red in her eyes and the fire in her heart.

It was no longer a battle- it was a massacre. It wasn't clear whether what remained of It couldn't or wouldn't fight anymore, but either way, it was reduced to Its squealing and mewling as the humans above continued to mutilate it.

At last, Jaune closed in for the kill. He rolled the creature over onto Its back before plunging the silver knife into Its chest, using the old scar as a guide to carve open a large cavity. Nora and Pyrrha used their weapons to help force the monster's chest open even wider, allowing Yang clear access to plunge in her hands, feeling around for a few brief seconds before closing her fingers around her target. She pulled with all her strength, and with a sickening, indescribable series of noises, backed away with a rather large organ in her hands, still giving its final few beats.

Letting out a primal screech, Yang held the heart above them all. Nora, Jaune and Pyrrha joined in, the scene momentarily changing to an ancient ritual of some prehistoric tribe, before Yang finally tossed Its heart to the ground, eagerly grinding it into the dirt beneath her boot.

At their side, the beast gave a final few twitches, then moved no more.

XXXX

Far above, Lie Ren's eyes opened, just a crack. The corners of his mouth twitched into a very small smile.

"They won."

 _XXXX_

Gamer4 out.


	50. Team Loser Makes a Promise (C)

Gamer4 in. At long last, I'm back to provide some opening and closing notes for the final chapters of this story. I have some dedications to dish out, but that seems better suited for the final chapter than the penultimate one, so for now, I will simply say... enjoy.

Disclaimer: Close your eyes- don't you cry. Love's around you, in time you'll fly...

Chapter XLVIII

Team Loser Makes a Promise

It took a great deal of cajoling to convince Yang to leave her sister's remains behind- in the end, she settled for carrying the bones and cloak to an area just outside the door into Its lair, where Weiss used her rapier to carve a small cross into the stone above- it wasn't much, but it was the best they could do on such short notice. With that, they turned back into the tunnels and began the long journey back to the surface.

It didn't take long after that for Yang's glow to flicker and die. After all that had happened, she no longer had the energy to provide them the light necessary to guide the way, leaving them to mostly feel along the walls, using Weiss's memory as a guide for what turns needed to be made. Even Blake's faunus vision relied on trace amounts of light- in this unrelenting darkness, she was just as blind as the rest.

On the way in, it had taken a matter of minutes to get from the solid black hallways, through the earthen tunnels to the door. Now, however, time seemed to be stretching minutes into hours as they searched for those smooth walls and floors.

"Yang..." Ren spoke gently. "I understand that you're tired... but if you can summon even the tracest amounts of light..."

Yang struggled, but all her energy had been spent on the Fire Walk and the immediate aftermath- there was hardly any emotion left in her for this slog back to the surface. "S-s-sorry... I've g-got n-n-nothing..."

"It's going to be okay," Weiss spoke up, hoping she sounded more convincing than she felt. "If we just keep following the left wall from here..."

 _Or was it the right?_ she wondered- but kept such thoughts to herself. The last thing she needed to do was lower her friends' morale even more.

"Things... things _are_ gonna be okay, right, Renny?" Nora asked, delivering perhaps the worst blow of all- even the usually chipper voice of Nora Valkyrie had been reduced to a weary hopelessness. "We're... we'll get out of here alright, right?"

"Of course, Nora," Ren agreed, a firmness in his voice that was nowhere in his heart. "We'll head back to my place, and I'll make you all some pancakes."

"That sounds... nice," Nora smiled weakly as they continued to trudge on through the dark and quiet.

XXXX

It took twenty minutes for the band to finally feel their way back to the hallways. They were warmer than the group remembered, but still just barely above freezing, leading them to band closer together for warmth. In her desperation, Yang managed to at least increase her body heat- a definite step up, but she still wasn't managing to glow.

When they came to the great chamber where Team CRDL had encountered Adam Taurus, they found the bodies of Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark... but no signs of Cardin Winchester.

"Where... where is he?" Blake asked, shuddering as she struggled to peer into the blackness. "Where's Cardin?"

"Somewhere else in here?" Pyrrha speculated. "This chamber _is_ rather large..."

"Or he might be back on his feet," Jaune whispered, not wanting to say it but feeling compelled to point out the worst-case scenario. "He might be looking for us, but even more lost..."

"We're not lost!" Weiss hissed back firmly. "We know where we are- we know this room! Once we get across, we'll be back in the hallways, and then... and then..."

"And then?" Blake asked, eyes narrowing. "And then _what?_ We've got an entire labyrinth of tunnels between us and the surface! Assuming we don't freeze to death in these hallways, we'll go ahead and starve to death wandering aimlessly around the rest of these Dustforsaken catacombs!"

"No... no, no, no, no!" Nora whimpered. "I don't want to go like that... I want to get back home... I want to see my parents again!"

"You will, Nora!" Yang spoke up. "You know B-B-Blake- she's just b-being a p-p-pessimist l-like usual... everything's g-going to b-be okay!"

"Then maybe you'd like to let us in on your grand plan for getting out of here?" Blake asked, turning to the area she assumed her leader was standing. "Go on- you're the woman with the plan! What is it?"

Yang choked, because she knew that Blake was right- she'd dragged everyone down here, it was her responsibility to see them all safely out. But the horrid, sad state of affairs was...

"I d-d-don't... I d-d-don't have one."

A strange noise pierced through the darkness- it took a second for the others to realize it was the sound of Blake hissing.

"Please, everyone- we need to stay calm!" Pyrrha raised her voice, fighting to hide the trembling within it. "I'm sure everything is going to be fine-"

"And how can you _know_ that?!" Blake shot back. "We're _miles_ underground, with no way to know how to get back to the surface! How can you say everything's going to be fine?!"

Nora's voice was starting to give in to sobbing. "No... everything has to be fine! After everything we've been through... we can't just... we can't just-"

Her voice was cut off by a surprised squeak. The others couldn't see it, but the reason for her silence was simple- yet so, so complicated. Ren had drawn near, using her voice as a guide, and pressed his lips gently against hers, pulling her close. Her eyes widened as she put her hands around his in return, gladly accepting the kiss.

After far too short a time, in her opinion, Ren pulled away, and spoke again in that characteristically calm tone of his- "Everything is going to be fine. We _are_ going to get out of here."

Nora smiled- whether it was due to Ren's semblance, or something deeper, she thoroughly believed his words, washing into her, warming her up and soothing her soul.

"Yeah... guys, we're gonna get out of here just fine," she smiled as she addressed the others.

Jaune's eyes widened. "That's it..." he whispered. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Pyrrha asked.

"That's what's holding us back- not just being tired, or... or anything like that... this is Its last trick- It wants us to fall apart and die alone down here. We have to stand together again... we have to _come_ together again... then we can get out."

"And how do you propose we-" Weiss was on the point of asking when she felt hands on the side of her face. From the callouses therein, she was able to deduce that they were Jaune's.

"With your permission, Ice Q- er, Weiss?"

Weiss's eyes widened, but she found herself nodding nonetheless as Jaune pulled her into a kiss of his own. Neither felt anything sexual in the act, barely anything romantic- no, this went even deeper, a bond beyond friendship _or_ love. Something bright enough to stave off the darkness around them and see them through to safety.

"Blake?" came Ren's voice nearby. "If you will?"

Blake, of course, could see nothing around her, but the sounds piercing her four ears were more than enough to piece together what was going on. Nearby, she heard Weiss pull away from Jaune, breathing heavily. "Better?" he asked.

"Much," Weiss whispered back. "I... I think I remember the way, now... once we get across this room, I should be able to get us out."

"But that won't do us much good if-" Blake started, only to find herself silenced by Ren's lips against hers. Her ears slicked back... then slowly raised themselves again. Like Weiss, there was nothing romantic here, but being in Ren's arms brought her a sense of security she hadn't felt in years- the last time she had felt so safe must have been when her mother, Kali, held her near, allowing her to suckle from her breast. Her raging mind began to calm... all was well. She was among her friends... friends who had already proven they could beat out the most impossible odds. They were already in the home stretch... her fretting could be laid down at the side. They would be home soon enough.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune asked.

"I'm here, Jaune," came Pyrrha's voice, sounding almost breathless- she, too, had realized swiftly what was happening here, and there was a certain level of nerves in her voice as she felt her way through the darkness to Jaune's form.

"Are you okay with this?" Jaune asked, cupping her cheeks in his hands.

"Maybe... but Jaune... I don't... what does this..."

She didn't know how to express the whirling emotions coursing through her. Jaune shook his head. "We can worry about that after we get out." He lowered his voice so only she could hear. "Whatever we feel for each other, it doesn't amount to much if we're both dead."

She nodded, conceding the point, and allowed him to press his lips against hers.

Bliss... utter bliss. Unlike the others, she thought she _did_ sense a level of romance here- or perhaps hoped- but even so, it was eclipsed by that deeper sense of belonging. After moving around for years, she had finally found a place to belong... and perhaps that was something she treasured even more than Jaune himself.

"Kind, crystal green eyes," Jaune whispered as they pulled apart, "hide a heart as pure as gold... my heart longs to join."

He immediately blushed at the perceived ridiculousness of the line, but Pyrrha smiled as she felt an even deeper warmth wash into her.

At long last, all eyes turned- as best they could- towards Yang. "I... I guess it's your turn, now," Jaune whispered. "If... if you're okay with it, which of us-"

This time, it was he who was silenced as Yang grabbed him and pressed his body to hers. Taller though he may have been, Jaune felt as though she were pulling his lips up to hers before they met.

Both closed their eyes. It was odd, in a way- Jaune knew many boys his age would kill to trade places with him right now, but just as with all the others, he felt no stimulation- this time, he felt security flowing into him. He was safe as long as Yang stood at the team's head. As long as she led, everything else would follow. Everything else would be alright.

Yang's feelings were not at all dissimilar- though directed differently. She felt as though she had been standing at the edge of the abyss, and this moment... everything happening right now was exactly what she needed to be pulled back. Of course... she was their leader, and she wouldn't let them down. She'd hardly be Yang Xiao Long if she did- losing wasn't her style. What was it she did?

 _Hotter than the sun in the middle of July..._

The others gasped as a light appeared before them- a faint glow that steadily began to burn brighter and brighter.

"I... I _see!_ " Nora gasped excitedly. "Ren... Renny! I can _see!_ "

"As can I," Ren nodded with a smile. "Now, if you two would care to take the lead... perhaps we might get out of here at last."

XXXX

At the end of an hour's march, there was no sweeter sound to Team Loser's ears than the running water of the Haven River. Even better was the moment that they realized that they no longer had to rely on Yang's light to see- small cracks overhead were allowing sunlight into the tunnels to reflect off the water splashing beneath their feet.

All their hearts leapt when, at long last, they saw a small circle of light up ahead, growing larger as they immediately rushed towards it.

At long last, they broke free, spilling out of the very pipe they'd entered by, marked by the fallen tree that had momentarily blocked off Team CRDL, what seemed like several hundred years ago. The storm that had broken out earlier had subsided- there was no longer a cloud in the sky.

The passage of time was marked by the sun setting beneath the horizon, turning the view of the Emerald Forest and the Haven river into a beautiful picture of reds and oranges. Several of the Losers laughed in relief, while others actually got down on their hands and knees to kiss the ground.

"We're out..." Yang smiled, looking towards the brilliant sun- she'd never take it for granted again. "We're out."

Jaune cleared his throat as he pushed himself back to his feet. "Um... guys? Is it alright if... if I stay with one of you tonight? I... I doubt I'd be entirely welcome home."

The others turned to look at him, but didn't ask- if he wanted them to know, he'd have come right out with it. Only Pyrrha seemed to understand, looking at him with clear sorrow in her emerald eyes.

"I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind," Blake spoke up, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's... it's the least I can do, after... after how I acted down there."

"You were scared," Weiss assured her, shaking her head at the apology. "People do weird things when they're scared- and we all were."

"Still... I'd be honored to have you, Jaune."

Jaune smiled. "Yeah... I'd like that."

They looked around the forest, taking in the fresh air and the soothing sounds of the trees.

"Perhaps... perhaps you could all come over to my place tomorrow," Ren suggested. "We can... we could celebrate with a pancake party."

"My kind of celebration," Nora smiled, clinging on to him tightly.

"I _do_ believe we could all do with a pick-me-up after the summer we've had," Pyrrha nodded, the corners of her mouth twitching.

"Yeah," Yang smiled. "When school starts up, I think I'm gonna punch anyone complaining about summer school in the face."

A chuckle ran around the group- nobody even commented on the disappearance of Yang's stutter. After everything that they had just survived, it was hardly worth a footnote in the grand scheme of things.

"See you tomorrow, then?" Weiss asked.

One by one, the others agreed, and they began making their way back up the hill towards where they'd left their bikes.

XXXX

"My Dad was pretty freaked out," Yang admitted as she swallowed a mouthful of pancake.

As it happened, they'd had to delay their celebration by a day- they'd all slept in so long the day after their ordeal that they had agreed to reschedule. However, they had all awoken bright and early today, determined to make it to Ren's house and put this all behind them once and for all.

"As soon as I came in, he came right at me- wanted to know where I'd been, why I smelled like a dump full of old porta-potties, that kinda thing."

"What did you tell him?" Pyrrha asked, helping herself to one of the smaller pancakes on the table before her.

"That we were _playing_ at the dump," Yang admitted, an odd smirk-blush combo overtaking her face. "We just... lost track of the time."

"That sucks," Nora muttered, before continuing to inhale her own flapjacks as though they were the last meal she'd ever have.

"Not really," Yang shook her head. "We got to have a long talk afterward... we got a lot of things off our chests. I haven't felt this close to him since..." she paused, looking at her reflection in the maple syrup below. "Since last September. It was... nice."

"Cathartic?" Ren suggested, wiping Nora's mouth with one hand even as he kept his gaze on Yang.

"I suppose so, yeah."

" _My_ parents didn't notice _squat,"_ Nora huffed, crossing her arms as she finally took a break from her meal. "By the time they got home, I'd taken a few showers to get all that gunk offa me, so I guess they didn't really notice anything unusual."

Ren gave a quiet chuckle. "My parents were curious, of course, but they like to give me a great deal of leeway. If anything, they were more curious about how _Weiss_ came to be in that state."

"True," Weiss nodded, blushing slightly as she struggled to feed herself one-handed. "They _were_ kind enough to take me to the hospital as soon as they saw... this..." She motioned to the eyepatch covering her left eye, so nearly gouged out by one of Neo's raving appendages. "They did what they could, but they said it will likely scar."

"Too bad, huh?" Jaune threw out, currently sitting between Blake and Pyrrha.

"Not really," Weiss smiled. "I... I kind of like it. It's... a badge of honor, if you know what I mean."

"I can see that," Yang nodded, smiling. "You take a trip to the hospital too, Blakey?"

"Of course," Blake nodded- predictably, she'd been the quietest the whole time, mostly sticking to eating her hotcakes in silence, giving one or two word responses as necessary. "I spent yesterday in some bandages, but I was pretty safe to remove them today. Those wounds healed... rather quickly, all things considered."

"Any problems fitting in with the Belladonnas, Jaune?" Ren asked courteously.

"Oh, no, they were great," Jaune smiled. "Her mom, especially- if I didn't know better, I'd swear she was trying to play matchmaker with us."

Laughter went around the table, except for Blake, who blushed furiously and sunk as low as the table would allow. "You don't know how right you might be," she whispered.

"What about you, Pyr?" Jaune asked, turning his gaze to the red-headed girl next to him.

"Oh- well, my mother took it relatively okay. I told her I tripped into a mud puddle out in the forest, and she seemed to believe that... or at least, not ask me any more questions." Pyrrha smiled. "She _did_ make me eat third helpings of everything at dinner, though... that's just how she shows she cares."

Yang nodded, before taking a glass of milk in her hand. "Well... here's to a job well done." She stood. "To Team Loser!"

"To Team Loser!" everyone else chanted before taking a long drink of milk.

Yang's eyes instantly landed on one of them who didn't seem as enthusiastic as the rest. "Something wrong, Blakey?"

"Kind of... in a way," Blake muttered, not meeting her eyes as she returned to her pancakes. "I... I'll tell you, but... maybe not here."

"Why?" Ren asked. "My parents are out until evening- anything you have to say, we can say it-"

"It... it just seems like something I ought to say... elsewhere," Blake admitted. "After the celebration, you know?"

Team Loser glanced at each other, then nodded. "Okay," Yang agreed. "We'll finish up here, then head out into the Forest. Cool with you?"

Blake nodded, then returned to eating.

XXXX

After a long meal full of exchanged stories and the laughter that followed, the group marched out of Ren's house and grabbed their bikes, assuming what had rapidly become the usual formation- Jaune pedaling his bike with Pyrrha wrapped around him, Nora taking control of Ren's, the bike's usual owner grabbing on from behind, and Yang leading on Bumblebee with both Blake and Weiss right behind.

They made their way through the town, following the familiar path from _A Simple Wok_ to the edge of the Emerald Forest, where they dismounted near Autumn Bridge and began following the Haven River deeper into the trees.

Finally, they stopped, not too far from where Pyrrha had first met Yang and Weiss a couple months ago- _Holy Dust, has it really only been two months?_ Pyrrha couldn't help but marvel.

The sun shone brightly overhead as they stood at the river's banks. One by one, everyone turned to Blake. "So... what is it, Blakey?"

"I... I don't want to be that person," Blake muttered, "but I can't help but feel... like it's not quite over yet."

"How d'ya mean?" Nora asked. "We killed It, Cardin's behind bars... what else is there?"

Indeed, the news had broken in that morning's paper- Cardin Winchester had been discovered on the banks of the Haven River, in a near-comatose state, and had immediately been taken into custody on suspicion of involvement with the disappearances.

"God is in Heaven, all is right with the world," Ren quoted.

"Maybe," Blake nodded listlessly. "Maybe, but... but I can't help wondering... what if It's still alive? Still down there somewhere, hiding out, waiting for another chance?"

A deep chill ran through the group at the prospect- Yang bit her lip, and Weiss raised her good arm to cover her shoulder as she shuddered.

"Nah... _nah..._ " Nora scoffed nervously. "We... we all saw her turning to dust... what is that, if she's still alive?"

"It's a shapeshifter," Weiss muttered, eyes fixed on the ground. "It might have been a trick..."

"We'll keep an ear out, then!" Jaune spoke up. "We'll watch out for anymore disappearances, and if there are..."

"But what if there aren't?" Pyrrha wondered gravely. "What if... what if we just forced It back into hibernation? If it _is_ gone for now... but it comes back later? Twenty-seven years from now?"

"Then we'll come back, too."

Everyone spun to see Yang, looking just as serious as she had when she'd rallied them together in the depths of Vale. Her eyes weren't quite red, but they were flickering. "Swear to me... all of you... swear to me that if It's not dead... if It ever comes back... _we_ will, too. We'll all come back... and finish that fucker off."

The others looked rather nervous, but Ren was the first to answer. "I swear," he said firmly, standing up and looking Yang in the eye. "I... I swear."

"If Renny's gonna come back, then so am I!" Nora jumped up immediately, rushing to his side. "That bitch won't know what _hit_ her!"

Pyrrha smiled once more at Nora's antics. "Well... if all of _you_ are coming back... then who am I to turn my back on you? I swear, too."

"Right," Jaune nodded, stepping up next to her. "I don't want any unfinished business in this town- if It ever comes back, it's our _duty_ to smack It down again."

Finally, they turned toward Weiss, who looked very nervous as she was suddenly thrown on the spot. She looked from one determined face to the other, before taking a deep breath. "There goes all those lessons on avoiding peer pressure..."

She took a deep breath before opening her eyes again, firm and determined. "Of course I will, Yang. I swear."

"Blake?" Yang asked, looking around, only to see Blake foraging around by the river. She eventually stood up, a glass bottle in her hand that looked to have once held twelve ounces of People Like Grapes soda. She crossed to a nearby tree and smashed the bottle against it, forming a decent makeshift knife before returning to them.

Wordlessly, she raised her right hand before pressing the sharp end of the bottle into it, using the former neck as a handle. She dragged the shard across her hand, leaving a trail of blood behind, and ultimately, a wound that would very obviously scar. "I swear," she nodded.

She then approached Weiss. Weiss hesitated for a second, but ultimately raised her left hand, palm up. Blake pressed the glass shard into it and dragged it along- Weiss twitched, but made no move to stop her.

Jaune stepped forward next, not waiting for a prompt to raise his right hand, removing the glove he'd been wearing over it. Blake shot him a questioning glance, which he responded to without speaking, nodding slightly. He took a deep breath, only letting it out once the deed had been done.

"Hey, uh... we really gotta do this?" Nora asked nervously, rubbing the back of her head.

Blake shot her a light smirk. "Just for that, you're going next."

"I'm hurt- betrayed- a little hungry!" Nora gasped dramatically. "That last one's not your fault, though- Ren!"

"Beep beep, Nora," Ren smiled. "Just because I wouldn't let you have seventh helpings of pancakes..."

Nora gave an exaggerated pout before turning to Blake and raising her right hand. She inhaled through her teeth as her palm was cut open, and immediately started shaking her hand when Blake moved on.

Pyrrha stepped forth, smiling gently as she waved. "Hello, again."

"No offense, but... maybe you should try to lose some weight before next time," Blake suggested quietly. "Make yourself a less appealing target."

"Or I could just hope It's on a diet," Pyrrha fired back without any venom. Her hand raised, the glass flashed, and Pyrrha backed away, gazing at the injury with fascination.

"If I may," Ren spoke up, stepping forward, raising his left hand without preamble. Blake nodded silently, and performed the deed for him.

At last, they all turned towards Yang, who couldn't help smirking.

"You know, second thought, I don't really feel like it," she shrugged, before turning away. The others raised their voices in mock protest, prompting Yang to laugh as she pretended to give in, returning and snatching the glass from Blake's hand and making her own cut herself.

She dropped the shard to the ground, looking around at them all. Without any further words, they reached out and took each others' hands. Yang holding Weiss's holding Blake's holding Jaune's holding Pyrrha's holding Nora's holding Ren's holding Yang's again. They stood there, eventually closing their eyes, letting the pact sink into them all.

Yes... if It came back... they wouldn't be far behind. They were, now and for all time, Team Loser.

The moment couldn't last forever- after a few minutes that seemed like hours, they broke apart. Blake stepped backwards. "Jaune and I... we ought to get going." She turned before throwing one glance back. "Oh, and Yang... if you want to make up for nearly getting me killed, go ahead and leave a shipment of tuna on my doorstep for the next week or so, okay?"

The others stared, until they noticed the small smile on her face. They broke up, laughing, as Jaune approached and the two of them set off back into the trees. One by one, they all followed, until only Yang was left, gazing out on the Haven River, her heart calmer now than it had been in well over a year.

XXXX

As things turned out, Jaune was the first to leave Vale that year.

The Belladonnas were gracious hosts to him throughout his stay, offering him anything he needed as long as he fulfilled his share of some simple chores- which, with his upbringing, was actually quite lenient. They had gotten in contact with the proper authorities to report his mother's behavior, and begin laying the groundwork for his return to his father's custody.

It was three days after the incident that his mother was found and arrested, and roughly a week afterwards that Theodore Arc arrived in Vale to pick up his precious boy. There had not been time for a meeting to bid the boy farewell- Blake simply appeared at one of the team's meetings and announced that he was gone.

In the meantime, Weiss had returned to her father, weaving a tale about having been taken by the kidnapper, but managing to escape and eventually being rescued by her friends. How much of the story her father believed, it was difficult to say, but it was enough for him to lay off her friends, leaving them be. Unfortunately, he also immediately launched into plans to move out of Vale to a Schnee-owned building in the Kingdom of Atlas- not far from the company's headquarters. As such, she was the second to leave- though, against her father's wishes, she managed to sneak out one final time for one final meeting with her friends- they all met down in the forest, building a campfire and telling a round of scary stories, this time uninterrupted by Oobleck or any lurking terrors- unless one counted the terror Blake felt when she realized Ren may well be a better storyteller than she.

The next day, Weiss was gone.

It was only a day or two after that when Pyrrha showed up and delivered a grave announcement- her mother's job had transferred her yet again, and as such, they would be returning to Mistral for the foreseeable future. On some level, of course, she had known this was liable to happen, but it didn't make the impending split any easier to deal with. It was with her mother's blessing that they performed one final get-together, heading out to the movies where they watched _Love More than Likely-_ Pyrrha's pick. Yang had made sure to give some token resistance, but in the end, she caved and gave the departing girl her way.

Blake was next. As it turned out, her parents had been making arrangements to leave Vale for quite some time- when questioning Blake, the others were unable to determine whether she had known as well, or if she had been just as much in the dark as they were. They had held off, determined to give Blake one last summer with them, but with that summer drawing to a close, it was time to pack up and leave. For her final farewell, they all headed to _A Simple Wok,_ where they chipped in and bought her the largest fish bowl they could. She had immediately professed her deep, undying love for each and every one of them before finishing the bowl in what the owner declared to be a new record.

Perhaps what stung the most was when Nora showed up to a gathering of the three remaining losers and announced that her time to leave had come as well. Her parents had been tossing the idea around for a while, particularly as the kidnapping epidemic had continued escalating, but, distant as they were, they hadn't bothered telling her about their plans until now. This was followed by a long day out in the Emerald Forest, taking in the sights alongside Ren and Yang, before returning home, and disappearing the following day.

In the end, it was only Ren and Yang who remained, meeting up at the arcade, where Ren had promised to show his own skills in certain games- particularly pinball and a few rail shooters.

"I've... got some bad news, Renny," Yang admitted as they tossed some balls along the ramp- indeed, Ren's technique put even Weiss's to shame.

"It's your time to leave as well, I presume?" Ren guessed, landing another perfect shot.

Yang tilted her head, caught off guard. "You're... surprisingly calm about that."

"I figured it might happen," Ren admitted. "Of all of us, I knew I was the only one guaranteed to stay behind- my parents worked hard on that land, they'd sooner die than give it up for anything."

Yang looked away guiltily. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't be," Ren shrugged, lining up his next shot. "This is just where the pieces landed. "At least this way, there'll be someone behind to call you all back if you're needed."

"I suppose that's true," Yang acknowledged, glancing out of the window- there had been hardly a drop of rain since their excursion into the sewers. "You're... you're sure you'll be alright on your own?"

"I'm sure I can do what needs to be done," Ren nodded.

"To tell you the truth... my memory... it's already getting a little foggy. There are pieces I'm having trouble remembering..."

"It was quite the experience," Ren pointed out. "Perhaps your mind is simply... overwhelmed."

"It makes me think..." Yang admitted. "Ren... if you end up having to call us back... maybe you shouldn't tell us everything all at once."

"Why not?"

"It's like you said... it's overwhelming. It's hard enough to accept this stuff now, but if you dump it all on us- grown adults, after twenty-seven years? Who _knows_ what it might do to us? Maybe you should... just do your best to help us remember on our own."

Ren nodded. "That sounds perfectly reasonable."

Yang smirked. "Now, knowing myself the way I do, I'm sure I'll get on your case about it- Dust _knows_ what I might say, trying to get you to spill the beans early. Let me just say... I preemptively apologize, and take it all back."

Ren turned to smile at her. "And I preemptively forgive you."

The two stared at each other for a moment, before Yang pulled him into a tight hug. "Thank you... for everything," she whispered.

"Thank _you_ ," Ren countered, hugging her right back. "Don't worry... you're my leader, right? Whatever orders you give, I'll follow."

Yang smiled back at him. "As of now, _you're_ the leader of Team Loser- I hope you lead it well."

Ren chuckled as he turned back and tossed his final ball.

A perfect shot.

XXXX

The time had come for Yang to leave Vale behind- everything of importance had been packed away, and all that was left was for her and her father to pile into their car and take off into the great unknown.

As she threw a last few odds and ends into her suitcase, she heard her door open behind her- she turned to see her father standing there, nervousness in his eyes. "Yang," he muttered. "I... I just wanted to say that... I know... I know I haven't been exactly fair to you, since... since Ruby died... I should have known you were being affected just as deeply as I was... maybe even more. I shouldn't have shut you out like I did. I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?"

Yang smiled wanly as she stood and approached him, pulling him into the tightest hug she could muster. "All I wanted was my father back," she whispered happily.

Tai pulled away, smiling back. "I know... I know this place has a lot of bad memories... for _both_ of us. But maybe... maybe where we're going, we can make a new set. I'm sure... I'm sure that's what she would want."

Yang nodded, turning to grab her suitcase and drag it down through the stairs. It was odd, realizing that she would never see this house again- she threw it one last glance before shutting the door behind her and placing her case in the car's trunk.

Before she climbed in, she raised her right hand, opening it up one final time to gaze at the scar upon it- she hadn't shown it to her father. It was for her eyes only- her eyes, and the eyes of her Team, who had forged a bond beyond the oceans that separated them.

 _One day... one day, we'll come back._

She glanced at the sky, where a few dark clouds were forming, before climbing into the passenger seat.

She leaned against the window as the car pulled out and began to rumble down the streets. For reasons even she couldn't fathom, a few streets down from her house, her eyes were drawn to one of the stormdrains, just as a few drops of rain began to fall down from above.

 _XXXX_

Thus concludes the childhood saga of _The Ice Cream Lady._ Tune in next time for the conclusion to the adult saga, and by extension, the conclusion to the story. Until then, please R&R, constructive criticism and questions embraced, Gamer4 out.


	51. Yang Xiao Long Beats the Devil (2) (A)

Gamer4 in. After the better part of a year, this story finally draws to a close- the final chapter is here. I have plenty to say in the end-notes, but until then, one final time- I hope you enjoy. Let's dive in.

Disclaimer: Don't you worry about the dark, I will light up the night with the love in my heart! I will burn like the sun that will keep you safe and warm! Like the smell of a rose on a summer's day, I will be there to take all your fears away- with a touch of my hand I will turn your life to gold! With a touch of my hand, I'll turn your life to gold!

Chapter XLIX

Yang Xiao Long Beats the Devil (Part II)

As time passed, the winds tearing through Vale only increased in velocity. Inside an hour, they were approaching the hundreds, and showing no signs of slowing. Rain was flying vertically through the streets in sheets thicker than anything witnessed by the township in over a hundred years. It didn't take long for a flood warning to start broadcasting, far more urgent than what had been issued the day Ruby Rose had gone out to play in the rain.

A roll of thunder heralded worse things to come, soaring over the Emerald Forest, where trees were struggling to stay upright- some of the weaker ones had already been uprooted. The sun that had been shining above had been completely obscured by dark clouds, shrouding the town in an eery twilight. Soon enough, people throughout the town were hurrying to the nearest shelters available.

It was approaching noon when Ilia Amitola arrived at the Vale airport, eager to board the first flight out of this city- human and faunus instincts alike were screaming at her to abandon her search for answers. It came as no surprise, however, when an announcement rang over the loudspeakers that there would be no further flights until the weather cleared- any planes that took off in these conditions would be risking their lives. Instead, Ilia turned her gaze back towards Vale- from this distance, she could vaguely make out the skyscrapers that made up the skeleton of Mountain Glenn...

And her eyes widened in horrified awe as the buildings began to buckle, then collapse altogether.

Perhaps it wasn't as surprising as it might have been- Mountain Glenn was a portion of Vale that had been largely unattended to for over a century now, after all. But it formed a pit in Ilia's heart- this was only the beginning.

The beginning of Vale's destruction.

XXXX

"It's... it's dead!" Nora gasped, backing away from the corpse of the beast beneath them, sounding very much as if even she couldn't believe it. "It's over... it's done!"

"Not yet," Pyrrha muttered grimly, casting her gaze around at all the eggs dotted about the chamber. "We can't leave any of _these_ alive. If... if they grow... and _hatch..._ "

"We'll take care of it!" Jaune spoke up immediately. "Yang, Nora- you go look for Scarlet. You said he's down here, right?"

Yang nodded firmly. Pyrrha stepped up, hoisting her spear. "Right. Leave the eggs to us- find him."

Yang and Nora turned and dashed back into the chamber's center, leaving Jaune and Pyrrha to follow a trail of eggs lying around in an unholy ring. Jaune had to fight bile rising in his throat with every sack he drove his knife into, cringing at the squealing and screeching that ensued. Pyrrha looked somewhat green herself, but neither of them faltered, tracking down one unborn creature after another, attacking its cocoon reducing it to fetid slime upon the floor.

It didn't take long for Yang and Nora to locate Scarlet's unconscious form- much like twenty-seven years earlier, Its victims had been pasted to the walls in that bizarre, gelatinous membrane- a membrane that was beginning to falter as they watched. Scarlet's limp form slid down the wall alongside another- a dark-skinned woman, though making out any real features was made difficult by the lack of a head. Yang rushed forward, pulling Scarlet away from the membrane.

"Scarlet! Are you okay?! Scarlet!"

She could feel a heartbeat- that was good. He was alive. But his eyes... his eyes were empty, staring vacantly up at the ceiling. A single streak of white hair ran through his bangs, not at all dissimilar to Ren's single pink lock.

"We have to get him out of here," Yang grunted, rising back to her feet and slinging Scarlet over her shoulder in a fireman's carry.

"What about Weiss?" Nora asked, looking back towards the chamber's center, where she could _just_ make out the crumped form of their fallen friend.

Yang bit her lip. "If... if you think you can carry her all the way..."

"I can," Nora nodded firmly, rushing over and bending down to pick her up, lifting her into the same carry Yang had Scarlet in.

"Pyrrha!" she called out. "Jaune! You got all the eggs!"

The two reappeared over a nearby hill, nodding. "As far as we can tell, that's all of them!" Jaune announced.

"You're _sure?!"_ Yang asked urgently. "If there's even _one_ of those things behind-"

"We know," Pyrrha nodded. "Don't worry- we wouldn't leave if we weren't certain."

Yang looked around, and took the lead once more, guiding them up the short hill towards the door that had allowed them entrance into this chamber of nightmares. "Come on- time to go!"

She and Nora huffed as they bore their loads up the hill, Pyrrha and Jaune not far behind. The moment they passed across the threshold, Nora turned back and kicked the door shut with all her might. "Eat _that,_ bitch!" she snarled.

Yang shook her head, turning back to the tunnel, but faltered when she heard Pyrrha's voice behind. "Yang..."

"What is it?" Yang asked, turning back. "We have to... hurry..." She trailed off when she saw what Pyrrha had- a blank stretch of wood that now stood between them and It.

"The symbol on the door... it's gone."

XXXX

The first building of Vale to fall was the grand mansion that had once belonged to the Schnees. The house had since been purchased by another family- the Marigolds. The current owner, Henry, had attended the same college as Weiss, and had attempted to get into her good graces more than once, only to surrender around the same time he realized that she had forfeited her claim to the Schnee Dust Company's throne. Whether he ever knew the house he'd purchased in the intervening years had once been hers... it is difficult to say.

Nevertheless, he was still asleep when the winds picked up that day- by the time he had awoken and realized the incoming danger, the house was far past saving- the nearby trees crashed into it, ripping it apart, the ripping winds and tearing rain taking care of what was left. Henry had just been descending the steps towards the basement when a beam collapsed from above and crushed him beneath its massive weight. He was killed instantly.

In downtown Vale, it didn't take long for the prison to be evacuated, all those incarcerated there being herded into busses for transfer to a more secure facility. Cowed by the sudden change of weather, most prisoners followed along with this plan- the exception was Cinder Fall, previous murderer of Roman Torchwick and would-be lantern thief. She seized her opportunity to slip away undetected, managing to conceal herself in Vale's commercial district. Considering it the safest place, she barricaded herself within _From Dust 'Til Dawn-_ the largest building she would likely be able to get to in this storm.

And still, the speed of the wind kept climbing.

XXXX

"My Gods..." Holly Peach whispered as she gazed out at the carnage unfolding outside the hospital.

James was gripping his shoulder tightly enough to turn his knuckle white. "Holly... prepare to evacuate the patients. I don't plan on losing anyone to this storm."

Holly nodded slowly.

Far up above, Ren had closed his eyes, entering a state of meditation. _We must remain calm... no matter how terrible the storm is, this, too, shall pass. Even should we fall, we have already done our greatest duty- It is dead._

XXXX

The remainder of Team Loser had made it as far as the cavern with the tall cliff when they felt water falling down on them. "Is that rain?" Nora wondered out loud. "I thought we were still in the tunnels!"

"No... no!" Pyrrha gasped. "The tunnels are flooding!"

"How? It was a sunny day when we came down here!" Jaune objected.

Yang grunted as she hoisted Scarlet into a more comfortable position. "Flood or now, the plan's the same- get the _hell_ out of here!"

She started off on the zigzagging trail up the cliff, and the rest of Team Loser obediently followed behind.

XXXX

Far above, Bartholomew Oobleck was tearing through downtown Vale, assisting as many others as he could in escaping from the raging storm. His semblance- very much on par with the one Ruby Rose had so recently discovered before her disappearance- lent itself well to grabbing one person, bearing them to safety, then rushing back for another.

He practically kicked down the door to _From Dust 'Til Dawn,_ calling his orders of evacuation. "Ladies and gentlemen!" he announced rapid-fire. "I am afraid downtown Vale will soon be lost to us- we must make our way to higher ground!"

He tore through the aisles of the store, large enough in the old days, and had grown only larger as the years went on. At last, he found a single woman with long black hair falling over bright amber eyes. His own eyes were immediately drawn to her garb. "Excuse me, Miss, but we are evacuating downtown! If you would be so good as to come with me-"

"You think I'm coming with you?" the woman asked, a condescending note in her voice even in this situation. "You've already seen- if I go with you, you'll take me right back to prison."

"Ma'am, I assure you that saving your life is of higher priority at the moment," Oobleck attempted to reason.

"Of course," the woman nodded, raising a hand filled with fire. "I feel the same way."

Oobleck moved to dodge the fireball, but it never came- just before she could throw it, the building began to collapse. The woman was thrown off balance as the floor beneath them suddenly slanted. Oobleck moved swiftly, rushing back towards the entrance, regretfully turning his back on her. On the outside, he watched with horrified fascination as the store he'd just left began to crumble down into the ground, leaving a large chasm in its wake.

XXXX

Team Loser had nearly summitted the cliff when a series of loud crashings and rumblings slammed into their ears. They looked above, eyes widening as the ceiling seemed to collapse, and an entire building came crashing down into the chamber below. Listening closely, they thought they heard a loud cry that was suddenly silenced as the debris landed on the floor below.

"Oh... someone was _in_ that?" Nora cringed. "Man, I hope they were a jerk, at least!"

"Beep beep, Nora," Jaune muttered. "Come on- we can't stop!"

At long last, they arrived at the top of the cavern, and rushed into the tunnels ahead- never had Yang been so glad to feel the splash of sewer water beneath her feet.

She was significantly _less_ glad when she realized the water was rising, consuming her ankles, then her lower legs... her knees...

"Move faster!" she called, doing her best to follow her own advice- but the water was slowing them down as well, forcing them to slog through it as they desperately hoped to find an exit before they drowned in the town's refuse.

"Wait!" Pyrrha shouted, darting ahead. "I think... I can feel a sewer lid! If I can find it... _yes!_ Follow me!"

The others did so, following Pyrrha as she forced her way through the water, even as it consumed their hips, their waists...

"Pyrrha, whatever you're gonna do, do it fast!" Nora called.

"Just... a... second... _got it!"_

Up ahead, Pyrrha thrust her hand at the ceiling, sending the manhole cover above up into the sky.

"On my shoulders!" she shouted, beckoning to Jaune. Jaune nodded, climbing up and using her as a boost to ascend into the world outside.

"Scarlet!" Yang called.

"Right- hook his hands around your shoulders!"

Yang followed Pyrrha's advice, moving Scarlet to her back and wrapping his arms around her neck. Despite his state of seeming unconsciousness, his hands clenched together when guided. He was like a particularly heavy backpack.

"Up you go!" Pyrrha called. Yang stepped into her waiting hands, before reaching out and accepting Jaune's help back up onto the streets of Vale.

Nora blinked. "I... I don't think I can do that with Weiss..."

Pyrrha turned her gaze towards Nora, sorrow written thoroughly into her emerald eyes. "Nora... let her go."

Nora cringed at the suggestion. "I can't! I can't do that to her!"

"At least she won't be left in that... that _room._ That's all she would have wanted- and she definitely wouldn't want us killing herself just to give her a better burial. Let her go."

Nora bit her lip, fighting against tears as she dropped Weiss's body into the water surrounding them before dashing forward, allowing Pyrrha to hoist her up as well. From there, they all turned back around and reached down to pull their final companion up out of the sewers.

Looking around at their new surroundings, Yang took in a great deal of breath all at once. "Holy _Dust..."_

Around them, buildings were being flattened one by one, razed aside in winds that had reached nearly two hundred miles an hour.

"Hey you! You over there!" came a call- loud, but faint in the roaring wind. "This way- you must find your way to shelter!"

Squinting, Yang made out the man calling to them, and, without thinking, obeyed, making their way towards his waving hands.

"Oobleck?!" Yang gasped when she could finally make out his features.

"Sorry? Do I know you?" the man asked, eyes widening behind his thick, round glasses. He then cut himself off, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter! Follow me! I will guide you to shelter- we have to get to higher ground!"

They nodded and followed, Yang still keeping a tight hold on Scarlet around her shoulders.

As they marched against the wind, something odd happened- as suddenly as it had begun, the wind began to slow, the rain following suit. Only a few minutes after pulling themselves out of the sewers, the storm had gone from hurricane-like conditions to a more standard rainstorm- and it kept shrinking from there.

By the time an hour had passed, there were no traces of the storm at all- the clouds had all vanished, the air was still, and the sun shone above.

In the end, it was just Yang, Nora, Pyrrha, and Jaune walking through the abandoned streets of Vale with one of their old teachers at their head.

"This is... rather peculiar," the man commented, looking around. "I have never seen anything like this... for such a storm to come from nowhere, then vanish just as quickly... truly unprecedented..."

He then spun around towards his old students. "If... if I may ask, what exactly were all of you doing in the sewers?"

Yang glanced back at the others before turning to face the good doctor. "My friend... he went m-missing, and w-we went looking for him..."

Oobleck looked closer, seeing the state that Scarlet was in. "I see... well, I must recommend then that you take him to the hospital, posthaste! I am certain Doctor Peach will take good care of him!"

"Well, we were heading that way anyways," Nora shrugged, smiling slightly.

"Wonderful, wonderful... now, if you'll excuse me, I have some friends of my own to check up on!"

With that, Oobleck dashed away. In the years to come, his actions that day would go down in legend, almost as much as the man in green who had saved so many lives during the destruction of Menagerie Grill and Bar.

For their part, Team Loser followed through on their promise, advancing towards the hospital.

XXXX

"Your friends are back again," a gruff voice said, prompting Ren to open his eyes and turn his attention towards the door, where James Peach stood.

He glanced out the window. "The storm is over."

"Damn lucky, too," James grunted. "Never seen anything like it. I'm sure the news will be all over it for the next few weeks... do you want to see your friends?"

"Very much," Ren nodded.

He broke into a grin when they entered- Pyrrha first, then Jaune, Nora, and finally Yang. They were all beaming- all except Yang.

"You've done it," he smiled.

"I broke her legs for you, Renny," Nora smiled, darting forward and taking her place right beside him. "She didn't stand a chance with us on the case!"

Ren looked around. "Glad to hear it, but... where's Weiss?"

The smiles faltered. Pyrrha coughed slightly. "Weiss... she..."

Ren felt his heart sink. "I see. There's... there's no need to go into detail."

"It's thanks to her that we managed it," Jaune assured him. "She... she subdued it long enough for us to get the killing blow. It's just... she put herself into danger to give us that chance."

"Then I'm sure she wouldn't have had it any other way," Ren said mournfully, closing his eyes.

They all fell silent, looking around at one another, allowing themselves to witness the grief on each others' faces.

"So... what do we do now?" Nora wondered aloud.

"Now?" Jaune asked, allowing himself- not a laugh, exactly, but more of a scoff. "Now we head to the nearest hotel without a dead body in it and sleep for the rest of the week."

"I... can second that," Pyrrha smiled softly.

"I... I'll stick around here a while longer," Yang shook her head. "Scarlet..."

"Scarlet?" Ren asked, perking up slightly. "Your boyfriend? What about him?"

"It had him," Yang muttered. "He's still alive, but..."

"Catatonic?" Ren guessed.

Yang nodded slowly.

Ren bit his lip. "I... I don't know what to say. I wish I could tell you how to fix it, but... the only other case I have to work with is Cardin, and... well, you know."

"We know, alright," Yang nodded. "We know."

They fell back into silence. After a long while, Ren raised his hands invitingly. Nora smiled, the first to take one, extending her other hand out. Jaune took her opposite hand, Pyrrha taking his, and Yang completed the chain.

Yang took a deep breath. _It's over... it's over. After everything... it's finally over._

She found her eyes rising to the window, where she could make out a faint reflection of everyone in the room- or...

Her eyes widened. In the window, she _wasn't_ just seeing the five people within the room. There were three additional figures reflected there- a short woman with white hair and a scar over one eye, a taller woman with black hair falling over crystal amber, cat ears protruding from her head, and a girl with short black hair, fading to red at the tips, gazing at her with silver eyes. All three of the additional figures seemed to smile at her through the window, before she blinked, and they were gone.

Yang lowered her head, struggling to fight back tears. It had cost so much, but here they were- all of them, at the very end.

 _There were never just seven members of Team Loser, were there?_ she thought to herself. _Never seven... but eight._

Finally, they broke apart. Pyrrha smiled meekly as she backed up. "I... I'll go find a hotel for us to rent."

"I'll go with you," Jaune said, leaping quickly to his feet.

"I have to go see what's happening with Scarlet," Yang muttered, rising to her own.

"And I have to-" Nora started, but stopped when Yang held out her arms, stopping her from leaving.

"You have to _nothing,_ " she said firmly. "Stay back here and have a talk with Ren, why don't you?" Her lilac eyes gleamed. "I'm sure you have a _lot_ to tell him."

Nora gulped, glancing behind herself at her bedridden friend, looking somewhat confused as he watched. "Yeah... I guess I do."

XXXX

In the days that followed, time began to slip by in a blur. The remnants of Team Loser made sure to visit Ren every day, bringing him news of the goings-on around town.

The chasm created when _From Dust 'Til Dawn_ had been swallowed by the earth was spreading, growing larger and larger by the day. One by one, the buildings surrounding it were consumed, leaving many to abandon the commercial district and much of downtown Vale as a lost cause. Experts couldn't seem to piece together why it was happening, but they, of course, understood- after hundreds of years, the tunnels and caverns beneath Vale were taking their toll.

Several companies and organizations that had been planning on investing in the town and its expansion were pulling out, suddenly finding the proposition far less tantalizing than it had been before. Where a bidding war had once been taking place between the two largest companies in Remnant- Black Plateau and the Schnee Dust Company- they were quick to pull out when news of what had transpired reached their ears. It was hardly any skin off of Black Plateau's back, but for the Schnee Dust Company, who was struggling to stay afloat as was, this was something signaling their death knell.

It was three days after the event rapidly coming to be known in Vale as 'Hurricane Ella' that Pyrrha and Jaune announced their intention to leave.

"I hate to abandon you all so soon," Pyrrha whispered apologetically, "but I have another promise to keep, now that this is all over. I have some friends to meet up with, in southern Vytal."

"I understand," Ren nodded. "We _have_ finished our job here, after all."

"I hate to leave the town in such a state," Pyrrha continued, "but I'm sure we'll rebuild."

Ren refrained from commenting, but based on the rumors _he'd_ heard, that was... far from the truth. The hurricane had struck a deadly blow to the town, one that it seemed unlikely to recover from. Residents were pulling out, companies and corporations who could've proved beneficial were turning their backs...

Vale was unquestionably dying.

"Jaune," Pyrrha continued. "I would be... delighted if you would come with me."

Jaune looked to her, momentarily surprised, but warmth swiftly overcame his eyes. "Of course... Pyrrha, I'd _love_ to go with you."

Nora squealed in joy as she looked at them. "Oh, this is _great!_ When's the wedding, you two? I _gotta_ be there!"

"Beep beep, Nora!" the two cried in unison, before immediately blushing and looking away. Nora smirked- she may have been beeped, but she was unquestionably the victor of that exchange.

"We'll have to set something up to see you off," Ren smiled. "But if that's all for today... I'd like to talk to Yang alone, if it's okay."

"You aren't seeing her behind my back, are you, Renny?" Nora asked suspiciously- in a tone of voice that suggested she was anything _but_ suspicious.

"We're planning on eloping as soon as my leg heals," Ren commented dryly. "I was planning on bribing you with pancakes."

"Sounds fair!" Nora nodded cheerfully. "Come on, lovebirds! Let's give them some space!"

She turned and ushered the others out, leaving Yang behind.

"What is it?" Yang asked.

"Your stutter... it's gone again," Ren noted.

"It is," Yang nodded. "What of it?"

Ren hesitated. "Is anything... else gone?"

"What do you mean?"

Ren fixed her gaze with his. "Are you starting to forget again?"

Yang tensed. "Yes... yes, I am. Just a few details right now... things are starting to get a little fuzzy..."

Ren nodded. "For me as well. It's... frightening, but it also gives me hope."

"Hope?" Yang asked, confused.

"I... I don't think we'd be forgetting before leaving town... unless we really did it this time. Unless It was really dead."

"That's one hell of a price," Yang commented, crossing her arms as she took a seat in a bed across from Ren's.

"Indeed. On a similar note, how's Scarlet?"

Yang blinked. "Scarlet is... exactly as before. They're keeping him in the hospital for now, but there's not much they can do. He can be _led_ to do things- give him food, he'll eat, guide him around by the hand, he'll follow, but him on the toilet, he'll... _use_ it, but aside from that... nothing."

Ren closed his eyes. "I'm very sorry, Yang. I didn't mean for anyone else to get caught up in all this."

"It's my fault," Yang shook her head. "I should never have let slip where I was going in the first place."

Ren opened his eyes again. "Do you have any ideas on what to do?"

"James offered to send him to Graham's," Yang recalled. "I... turned him down."

"Vehemently, I'd imagine," Ren nodded, the corners of his mouth twitching upward. "So I ask again- what do _you_ intend to do?"

Yang sighed. "I'd like to get him out of the hospital, but I don't really have anywhere to take him other than the hotel."

"Take my house," Ren volunteered immediately.

"Take... what?"

"Talk to James- he'll give you my key. You can stay in my house with him until you come up with a way to get through to him."

Yang stared for a moment. "What makes you so sure I'll find a way to get through to him?"

"Because you're the leader of Team Loser," Ren smiled. "And you burn."

Yang smiled faintly. "Hotter than the sun in the middle of July."

Ren nodded, then considered something for a moment. "Yang... when you get to my house... check in my bedroom closet. You'll find something there for you."

"What is it?"

Ren hesitated a moment longer. "The truth is... it wasn't _just_ Torchwick that tipped me off to what was going on. I came home that night to find something on my coathanger- something I knew shouldn't be there. Something that shouldn't be _anywhere,_ really. I should have shown you earlier, but... so much happened in so little time."

"What is it?" Yang asked, more forcefully.

Ren met her eyes. "You'll understand when you see it."

And she did.

She had spoken to James Peach, who had double-checked with Ren himself before giving Yang the key to his home. A few papers were signed, and he also transferred custody of Scarlet over to her, allowing her to drive him to Ren's house in his car. She sat him on the sofa in the living room before heading upstairs to the bedroom.

She opened up the closet and gasped at the sight of a perfect length of red cloth- a cloak in as perfect condition as it had been the day her younger sister had worn it out into the rain.

She pulled it off the hook and held it close- whether in her imagination or not, she thought she could smell the faint scent of roses and strawberries, the very scent that so often hung around her younger sibling. She had no idea how it had come to be here, nor did she care- from here on, it was hers, and hers alone.

XXXX

It was a full week later that Yang and Nora returned to Ren's room to find him talking to someone on his scroll. He smiled as they entered. "Hold on, let me put you on speaker," he said before tapping the screen. "Alright, you should be able to hear each other, now!"

"Hey, guys!" came the unmistakable voice of Jaune Arc. Yang and Nora smiled- true to their word, Pyrrha and Jaune had taken off three days after their announcement.

"What's going on, you two?!" Nora asked eagerly. "Pyrrha, you keep your promise?!"

"Yes, my friends were very glad to see me," Pyrrha's soft voice responded. "They still don't really understand why I had to leave so quickly, but of course, I'd never have passed up the opportunity for a reunion with all of you."

"A reunion... right," Nora nodded. "That's... all."

"Of course that's all," Jaune agreed. "What else was there?"

"Oh, you know- taking down the embodiment of all evil? That good stuff?" Nora suggested.

Pyrrha laughed. "Oh, right- that game we used to play when we were kids. Yes, I remember that- barely."

The smile slid off of Nora's face. "Game? Are you... are you serious?"

"Yeah," Jaune agreed. "We'd meet up all the time and head into the Forest, pretending we were hunting wolves... or something. I can't remember all the details, it was so _long_ ago..."

Nora's jaw was on the ground, and it was against Ren's frantically shaking head that she asked, "And what about _Weiss?!_ "

The tone immediately turned somber. "Yes, that _was_ unfortunate," Pyrrha agreed. "None of us could have guessed the White Fang was still operating in Vale."

"The _White Fang?!"_ Nora asked, clearly struggling to accept what she was hearing.

"Yeah," Jaune agreed. "Especially since she left the company anyways..."

Ren cleared his throat. "We all mourn for Weiss, but I think she'd want us to look forward- how are you two doing?"

"Well, Sage was glad to see me safe," Jaune commented. "Something about Emerald coming after me- no idea what happened to her. He seems glad to see me with Pyrrha, though- or maybe just to see me with someone other than her."

"I'd imagine so," Yang nodded, stepping forward before Nora could interject again. "Now, about those wedding plans?"

Jaune groaned. "We'll see what happens, guys- we don't want to rush into anything, okay?"

The call continued for a while, Ren and Yang struggling to keep the topic away from the elephant in the room until Ren finally ended it.

The moment the scroll beeped, though, Nora could no longer be restrained. "Okay, the heck was all _that_ about?"

"They've forgotten," Ren whispered. "Just as we thought... having left the boundaries of Vale, they've forgotten."

Nora choked, her conversation with Weiss echoing through her mind. "You mean... when we leave... we'll forget again? All of us?"

Ren shook his head mournfully. "I have reason to believe we're forgetting already."

"But I... I still remember everything just fine!"

"What was Blake's last name?" Ren asked sharply.

Nora looked taken aback, but smiled. "Easy! She was Blake Bel... er..."

Her face changed to horror as she struggled to recall. "Bell... uh... Belmont! Of course- Blake Belmont!"

"Belladonna," Ren corrected.

Nora bit her lip, but then brightened. "Ah- but _you_ remember!"

"Not on my own," Ren shook his head. "I have all your names written down in a notebook- I was flipping through it before I got their call."

Nora's eyes widened, shining with unshed tears. "But... but... I don't _want_ to forget! Not again!"

Ren looked at her sadly. "I'm sure none of us do. But... they still remembered us. They didn't have any problems remembering me when they picked up their scroll- I think we can take comfort in that, at least."

Nora met his eyes. "Ren... when I leave... will you come with me?" She looked away. "Jaune and Pyrrha... they remembered each other when they went together, so... could we...?"

Ren blinked, then smiled. "Of course, Nora. I'm sure we can work something out."

Nora beamed as she bent down to pull him into a surprisingly gentle hug. Yang watched, smiling on her own, fighting back the fear that she'd never be able to share a similar moment with her own boyfriend again.

XXXX

It was three days later that Ren was finally discharged from the hospital- though he was issued a cane with strict instructions to keep weight off his bad leg for as long as possible. Yang and Nora arrived and helped him back to his house, where he and Nora began laying plans for a flight back to Atlas- Nora, after all, had obligations of her own.

"Make sure to keep in touch," Ren said to Yang as Nora made a call to the airport. "I think that's the only way that we'll manage to remember each other."

"Of course," Yang nodded.

Ren looked away for a moment, nerves crossing his face. At last, he asked, "Yang... what was Weiss's affliction? Was it a chronic migraine, or..."

"Asthma," Yang corrected. "She had asthma- or at least, that's what her father wanted her to believe. Don't you remember her saving us with her inhaler?"

"Ah, yes," Ren smiled faintly. "Of course."

He turned and glanced at Scarlet, still sitting complacently on the sofa. "Any more ideas...?"

"I... I have something in mind," Yang admitted. "It's... it's crazy, but..."

"Crazy's worked for us so far," Ren pointed out. "Whatever you intend, do it fast. There was a magic in this town, but it's fading quickly. It might already be gone. There's no time for hesitation."

"I'll keep that in mind," Yang nodded.

Ren rose to pull her into a hug, cane still clutched in his hand.

"Even if... if we forget," he whispered. "If we never meet again, I want you to remember... I love you. I love all of you so much."

"And I you," Yang agreed, holding him tightly, slapping him on the back a couple times.

They stayed like that for several minutes before Nora got their attention by clearing her throat. They turned to see her in a nearby doorway, a sad smile on her face.

"They have a flight to get us out of here tonight," she announced. "Yang... good luck."

Yang nodded as Nora moved forward, not breaking up their hug but joining in.

XXXX

The next day dawned- Nora and Ren were both gone. Yang remained behind in Ren's house- he had assured her she had his permission to use it as long as she needed.

At the moment, she was in his bedroom, pulling on clothing the likes of which she hadn't worn in twenty-seven years.

She had never thought it would happen, back then- she had envisaged herself as the eternal rebel without a cause, riding atop a bike, sunglasses on, telling figures of authority that they could eat her dust.

But, of course, grow up she had- the woman she saw when she looked in the mirror was not at all unlike images her father and uncle had kept of her mother- similar lines on her face, hair that no longer retained its old shine. Were she to dye her hair black, she'd be nearly indistinguishable. There _was_ one thing that separated them, however- Yang _refused_ to turn her back on those she loved.

She slipped on a brown leather jacket- she hadn't worn one of these in two decades, to her own surprise. She had retained more of herself than she'd thought as she'd aged, but changes had come nonetheless- she couldn't even _remember_ the last time she'd worn shorts like these, or these long boots and fingerless gloves.

She turned and headed downstairs, where she found Scarlet, already outfitted in a pair of ripped-up jeans and a Pumpkin Pete's hoody uncannily similar to the one Jaune had worn in those early days. Yang could only imagine how ridiculous they'd look to others- but she was past the point of caring. As long as Scarlet came back to her, it was irrelevant.

She reached out, taking his hand in hers. "Scarlet," she whispered. "Come on... we're going for a ride."

Scarlet said nothing, rising to his feet and following listlessly behind her as she led him to the front yard, where her noble steed sat before her once more.

She ran her hands over the handlebars- Bumblebee, the finest bike that ever was. How many times had it saved her in her youth? She honestly couldn't remember- her memory of the past few weeks were growing fuzzy. She remembered still that Team Loser had come together to do _It..._ but what, exactly _It_ was was a mystery. She knew she was forgetting- all the more reason not to delay any longer.

She slid into Bumblebee's seat- no, her _saddle._ She pulled Scarlet on behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. Under her breath, she whispered, "Come on, Bumblebee... let's roll."

She began pedaling. Just as she remembered, it was a fight to build up speed, but she knew that once she got some momentum, she'd ride faster than any other bike in this town.

"Come on, Bumblebee, one last ride! _Come on, Bumblebee, let's roll!_ "

The wheels were turning faster and faster, and sure enough, she was drawing some odd looks from passers-by on the sidewalk- a grown woman dressed like she was still seventeen, riding an old, battered bike with a similarly oddly-dressed man wrapped around her. Let them gawk- she wouldn't have cared as a child, why should she care now?

"COME ON, BUMBLEBEE, LET'S ROLL!"

They were moving, now. She felt wind rushing by her hair, sending it out behind her. Her stomach leapt as she swung around the first corner, hardly losing any speed as she continued her rush through Vale.

She could remember that moment, back when she and Ren met up for the first time after all those years... riding around on Bumblebee, years had fallen away from their faces. That was the magic she sought to recapture now.

She struggled to imagine that she was not Yang Xiao Long, world-renowned actress and screenwriter, but a student at Beacon High School once more, hopping aboard her bike in a mad dash to campus- she was late, but she'd finally managed to complete that assignment that had been hanging over her head for weeks now.

Or maybe it was _after_ school, and she was taking off on her bike to _escape_ such problems- indeed, when she was astride Bumblebee, all her problems were left behind.

When she was on Bumblebee, she could even beat the Devil.

" _COME ON, BUMBLEBEE, LET'S ROLL!"_

They were atop a hill, now- a hill dipping down towards the chasm that was all that remained of the commercial district. Heedless to the danger- smiling at it- _laughing_ at it- she took off down the hill.

It wasn't the incoming danger that caused her heart to leap- rather, it was the arms tightening around her waist, the slight moan behind her.

The moan swiftly turned into a scream.

"YANG! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! YOU'RE GONNA GET US KILLED!"

"FUCK THAT!" Yang screamed in glee as she used her brakes to take a sharp turn, practically at the last second, adjusting her course to follow along the chasm's edge. "NOT TODAY! NOT ON BUMBLEBEE!"

"Bumblebee..."

It was Scarlet's voice- delightfully, unquestionably Scarlet's voice.

"Yang- where are we?! I remember getting off the plane at the airport, and-"

"Don't worry about it!" Yang called back. "Everything's gonna be fine!"

"Says you!"

"What's the matter, scared?!"

"Terrified! _Don't stop!_ "

Yang cackled madly as she continued pedaling, allowing Bumblebee to take them where it would.

At long last, she allowed it to slow to a stop near a grassy field- she stepped off and practically collapsed into the turf.

Scarlet followed quickly behind. "Yang... Seriously, what's going on?"

Yang rolled over, slapping an arm over him and pulling him close. "You were gone... you were gone for a while, but now you're back."

Scarlet's eyes widened slightly. "Your stutter... it's gone again!"

Yang nodded, grinning as she pressed her forehead into his. "You bet your ass. Gone, and never coming back."

She could feel it- the last of her memories slipping away. But she no longer cared. She had Scarlet, and that was all that mattered.

XXXX

Yang's eyes opened to reveal a dark ceiling- she turned over to watch her husband as he continued to gently sleep.

As if aware of what happened, however, he awoke. He turned to meet her gaze. "Yang?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. "What's... what's going on? We need to sleep- we're meeting up with your friends later, aren't we?"

"Right, of course," Yang nodded. "I was just... dreaming."

"About what?"

"My childhood. I was thinking... it's a magic time, but the magic doesn't really _die_ when we grow up... it just changed."

Scarlet blinked. "If only you were this thoughtful _all_ the time."

"Hey, I'm plenty thoughtful," Yang whispered reproachfully, flicking his forehead. Scarlet smiled even as the finger made contact.

"That's why you want to show off to Nora?"

"Hey- I _told_ her there was no way she and Ren were beating us!"

Scarlet chuckled lightly. "Leave it to you two to turn something like this into a competition. Besides, Jaune and Pyrrha beat you both already."

"Yeah, but that's _Pyrrha,_ " Yang countered. "Victory's in her destiny."

"I suppose," Scarlet nodded. "But you're hardly a slouch yourself."

He leaned over to kiss her on the forehead. "I love you." Almost absentmindedly, he ran a hand across Yang's stomach, which had been steadily expanding for the past few weeks. " _Both_ of you."

Yang grinned. "I love you, too."

Scarlet was beaming as he leaned back into bed, closing his eyes and breathing deeply once again.

Yang couldn't help but feel warmer than usual as she lay back down, closing her own eyes against the outside world. As the cool embrace of sleep claimed her, her final thoughts lingered just a little longer upon her childhood, and the friends with whom she'd spent it.

 _XXXX_

At long last... it is over. Before we wrap things up for good, I have two dedications and some thanks to give out.

First, I want to dedicate the RWBY side of this story to Monty Oum. I know I'm about five years late to this party, but I wasn't even aware of RWBY at the time the greatest mind behind it passed away, so consider this my tribute to him- as it is.

As for the It side of the story, I want to dedicate that to the man who told it to me first- my beloved Uncle Steve. He wasn't related to me by blood, nor to his dozen other nephews and nieces, but he will always be our uncle nonetheless. It is he who first spun the story of a group of friends banding together against an unfathomable evil, and while he mixed up some details, I can hardly forget to acknowledge what got me set on this story in the first place. Rest in Peace, Uncle Steve, wherever you are.

Additionally, I'd like to thank GeorgeKYST, who served as my beta reader for the final act of this story- there are quite a few chapters that wouldn't be the same without his invaluable input. On a similar note, I want to thank Breenut for providing every version of the cover art, and SpiderShadow5 for being a rather consistent reviewer throughout. Every one of you is awesome, and I couldn't appreciate your support any more than I do.

It's hard to say where we go from here- I have other RWBY stories to focus on, of course, and I _really_ need to refocus attention towards Mario Mario at some point... but we'll see what the future holds. Until that great tomorrow, I say, one final time- please R&R, constructive criticism embraced, Gamer4 out.


End file.
